Did London Bridge Really Fall Down?

On April 24, 2024 By The State Library of ArizonaIn Arizona, Architecture

Can you guess what Lake Havasu City and London have in common? If you guessed the London Bridge, you would be correct! After being built in 1831, the London Bridge began to collapse in the 1960s due to an increase in heavy vehicle traffic and rather than dismantling the bridge, London decided to try and sell the granite bridge and began looking for sellers in America. A chainsaw and boat engine entrepreneur from the Lake Havasu area, Robert McCulloch, would be the one to take them up on the offer despite the cost and potential downfalls.

History of Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu is located on the Pittsburg Peninsula along the Colorado River between San Bernandino County, California and Mohave County, Arizona. During World War II, the area was used by the Army Air Corps as a resting base called, “Site Six” and developed into an industrial area after the war. Robert McCulloch, a successful businessperson who founded the chainsaw and boat motor company McCulloch Properties Inc., bought the area around Site Six in 1963. Along with Cornelius Vanderbilt “C.V.” Wood, who was known for designing Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, McCulloch planned to turn the arid desert area around Lake Havasu into a housing and tourist destination. After building a hotel and selling “sunny lots” to Midwesterners looking to retire to a warmer climate, the town began to grow slowly. By 1965, Lake Havasu City included attractions such as the Travel Trailer Park, Crazyhorse Campground, Lake Havasu Airport, State Beach, and Lake Havasu Marina.

The London Bridge

However, in 1962, another opportunity would arise around the world that would bring considerable economic success to Lake Havasu City: The nearly 140-year-old London Bridge was falling down. Since the bridge was built in 1831, the weight of increased automobile traffic was causing one half of London Bridge to sink. By the 1960s, one side of the bridge was four inches lower than the other and needed to be replaced. Rather than just tearing the bridge down, the City of London began looking for someone in America to buy the bridge. Robert McCulloch, looking for ways to attract more tourists, saw this as an economic opportunity and placed the winning bid of 2.4 million dollars to buy the bridge. However, buying the bridge was just the beginning as moving the bridge would bring additional challenges.

The bridge was dismantled brick by brick and all 10,276 bricks were numbered to put them back together once they arrived in Lake Havasu. You can even see some of the numbers on the bricks today. Afterwards, the pieces of the bridge were shipped from London, through the Panama Canel, and then up the Colorado River. The reassembly of the bridge was overseen by British architect Robert Beresford who decided to build the bridge dry ground with reinforced concrete core arches inside of the stonework. Underneath the bridge, channels were dug out after the bridge was completed to turn the Pittsburg Peninsula into an island and have water flow between the arches. All of this was completed in three years for the small cost of 7 million dollars, not including the original price of 2.4 million dollars to buy the bridge from London.

London Bridge (Lake Havasu City) – Wikipedia

Economic Results

Despite the over 9-million-dollar cost of buying and transporting the London Bridge, Robert McCulloch’s wager on buying the London Bridge has paid off. The reconstruction of the London Bridge was completed on October 10, 1971, and celebrated over two days with, “…sky divers, sky writing; …canoes to escort the Lord Mayor of London; by flags, balloons, floodlights, rockets, arts and crafts displays, banners, fireworks and an Elizabethan village [and] a rich banquet” In addition, the Highway Commissioner Walter and Dorothy Nelson, State Parks Board President Duane and Beverly Miller, and the State Treasurer Garfield were at the ceremonies along with 50,000 American and British attendees.

Since then, the London Bridge has helped attract visitors from around the world and in 2020 alone, the city had 598,403 visitors to Lake Havasu and was the most visited state park in Arizona with the park having over 2,500,000 in revenue funding. In addition, the population rose from 4,000 people in 1970 to 15,000 only ten years later in 1980. The population has only continued to grow with a current population of around 58,000 and hopefully will continue to expand in years to come. No matter what though, for now the London Bridge is standing strong and did not fall down!

Want to Learn More?

London Bridge – Lake Havasu City (golakehavasu.com)

State Park Visitation – Tourism AZ

Arizona State Parks: the beginning | Arizona Memory Project (azlibrary.gov)

London Bridge | Arizona Memory Project (azlibrary.gov)

Lake Havasu State Park | Arizona Memory Project (azlibrary.gov)

Bridges | Arizona Memory Project (azlibrary.gov)

London Bridge at Night at Lake Havasu City

Welcome to the Bill Files!

On April 24, 2024March 18, 2024 By The State Library of ArizonaIn Arizona, Arizona Legislature, Arizona Memory Project, Arizona State Government Publications, Uncategorized

We’ve added another online resource to the tools for researching legislative history! You can find our Legislative Bill Files collection files here.

We owe a big thanks to our partners on this project. When we started, there was only one good quality original of the bill files, and they were on microfilm. Our partners at the Arizona House of Representatives, the Arizona State Senate, and the State Archives provided access to the microfilm for digitizing. The Arizona Historical Society digitized them. Three years of grants from the federal Library Services & Technology Act, funded under the Institute of Museum & Library Services paid for the digitization. The above-and-beyond kindness and professionalism of the Historical Society, the House Clerk’s office, and the Senate Secretary’s office enabled the staff of the Research Library and the State Archives to complete the rest of the work in-house. They’ve been the best partners ever! We spent 3 years organizing the massive digitized files, making them keyword searchable, and uploading them onto the Arizona Memory Project. Whew!

Huh? What are bill files?

Most researchers of legislative history use the amazing legislative bill tracker to learn about what happened during the legislative process when a law was enacted. We do too!

But before seemingly everything was online, it was in print. In those days, the House and Senate would collect all the documents generated during the legislative process, organize them by bill number, and save them. Those were the bill files. To save space, they stored them on microfilm. (Great for preservation! But very inconvenient.) We decided to digitize all that microfilm and put it online for easier searching.

What’s in the bill files?

It varies, depending on the practice of each of the legislative chambers at the time. Typically, a bill file includes the introduced bill, amendments that passed, the version of the bill as it left each legislative chamber, and the votes. Sometimes a bill file includes staff summaries, fiscal analysis, or a legislator’s statement about the bill. They do not include committee minutes, but you can request House committee minutes from the State Archives and Senate committee minutes from the Senate Resource Center.

What years can I research?

The Senate started putting their bill files on microfilm in 1969. The House started in 1971. The collection includes the years from 1969 through 1996. After that, most documents are on the legislative bill tracker, a better and more convenient resource.

How do I use the collection?

To find the history of an Arizona statute, use an annotated edition of the Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) and read the current statute. Scroll to the end and look for the “historical notes” or the “credits” that follow the language of the statute.

There you will find when the statute was added to A.R.S. and each time it was amended. Here’s an example:

The citations you are reading are Session Laws – the compilation of all the legislation enacted in that legislative session, in the order each measure was signed into law.

Next you need the bill number. Use the Arizona Memory Project and click on the Law Collection. Look up the Session Law and find the bill number in the caption.

Go to the Legislative Bill Files collection and scroll down to 1986. Select House bill files and scroll to HB 2518 and browse the documents. Then go back and do the same in Senate bill files. The documents will convey how the bill was changed through the legislative process, the aspects of the proposal that the legislators chose to amend, what the bill said when it left each legislative chamber, and whether the votes were close.

Why are we making a big deal out of this?

We’re so happy it’s finally ready for you! Here’s some data so you can be happy for us too:

• The bill files collection includes 27 years of legislative history, from 1969 through 1996.

• We digitized 456 reels of microfilm.

• Each microfilm reel had between 650 and 2700 images that we extracted by bill number.

• The collection has some 43,091 separate bills, resolutions, and memorials.

Helpful Links

State of Arizona Library, Archives & Public Records Ask a Question link

Arizona Memory Project, an online collection of collections. You can be an insider and call it AMP.

Law Collection link on the Arizona Memory Project

Official version of the Arizona Session Laws online

Legislative Bill Files 1969-1996

Copper Girls: How Four Women Shaped the Trajectory of Arizona

On March 20, 2024March 13, 2024 By The State Library of ArizonaIn Arizona, Arizona Memory Project, Women

When we hear the word pioneers of Arizona we often think of hardy cowboys, political figures, and well mostly the men that have shaped our state. While there are a few standouts, such as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, men often get the spotlight. While women have rightfully received recognition in recent years, many of the pioneering women from our state’s past have been lost to history. But some of Arizona’s greatest accomplishments that have shaped our state, its policies, and even its culture have been done by women. Their names are emblazoned on mountains, parks, and so much more with their history largely unknown to the public. Arizona’s constant influx of people to our beautiful state often means the foundation and history behind things is left behind. This Women’s History month we would like to honor these giants by telling their stories.

Margaret T. Hance

If you have lived in Phoenix for any period, you more than likely know about ‘Margaret T. Hance’ Park, located at 67 W Culver St. The park is 32 acres, sits atop the I-10 freeway tunnel and is home to several Arizona cultural museums and attractions. The parks name’s sake was not only the City of Phoenix’s first female mayor, but she was also known as the “Mother of Mountain Preserve,” a nickname she earned for helping to create the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, which now encompasses 5 parks total: the Piestewa Peak Recreation Area, Camelback Mountain, Papago Park, Lookout Mountain Preserve, North Mountain, and Shaw Butte Preserves. Before Margaret became the first female mayor, she was a tireless community supporter volunteering for Cub Scouts, Little League, PTA, her church, the United Fund, Fiesta Bowl Committee, St. Luke’s Hospital, the March of Dimes, Girls Scouts, St. Joseph’s Hospital, the Harrington Arthritis Center, the Arizona Kidney Foundation, the Junior League of Phoenix, and the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board. As mayor she served four terms and focused on revitalizing downtown, repealed a food sales tax, obtained funding for several pivotal Arizona highways, and expanded Sky Harbor Airport. Next time you take a stroll or pass by the park, think of the incredible woman it is named for.

Grace Chapella

Grace Chapella is a name most people probably don’t know, but we have probably seen some of her work in museums, magazines, and galleries around town. Grace Chapella, of the Bear Clan, was born on February 4, 1874, at Tewa Village, Iwinge (Hano) located on the Hopi Reservation. She began learning how to make pottery from her mother when she was a small child, but also from her neighbor Nampeyo (perhaps a name more well recognized). Grace’s mother taught her traditional Tew-Hopi way in making and painting pottery. Tragically her mother and mentor died in 1925 while digging for coal that she used for firing her pottery. But Grace had already begun to make a name for herself, her pots had an off-white color for which she was known as “White Pottery Lady.” She began by selling her pots at local trading posts, where tourists started asking for her pots specifically, and she was asked to make dozens of salt and pepper shakers for local restaurants.

At this time, it was not standard practice for artists to sign their items, but with some encouragement she began to do so. Grace would often collect pot shards she would find and use them for inspiration, specifically pot shards with the rainbird and butterfly. The butterfly was a massive influence on her pottery and eventually became known as a design synonymous with her family for several generations. Grace went on to continue to make her pottery until her death at 106 years old, provide demonstrations, and sell her pottery to contribute to her family economically. Grace was prolific in continuing the traditions of pottery making and her items have become collector’s items to this day. She was a proud and devoted Tewa Bear Clan member and Tewa-Hopi pottery maker that should be recognized for her contributions not only to the pottery world but in preserving traditions.

Elizabeth Langdon Williams

Pluto is making more headlines recently, as it is on its way to becoming our state planet if House Bill 2477 is passed. The small dwarf planet was discovered in Flagstaff on February 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory. But this was not a single person’s venture, a team of dedicated astronomers and scientists worked for years to make this pivotal discovery. Elizabeth Langdon Williams was a physicist and astronomer whose mathematical calculations are what helped lead to the discovery. Elizabeth studied Physics at MIT, impressive in her own right as she was one of the first women to graduate and to do it with distinction in 1903. She was hired directly by Percival Lowell just two years after graduating to be a “human computer” working on astronomical calculations he was collecting from his Boston office. As data was being collected it was becoming harder to deny Lowell’s theory of a ninth planet, or Planet X was it was known at the time. As the head of the computer team her calculations led to the first captured image of Planet X in 1915, but no one realized they had in fact captured it. Lowell’s theory was that Planet X significantly impacted the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, which was later proven wrong.

While her calculations did in fact find the planet, Lowell died in 1916 and the program was discontinued. It wasn’t until the late 1920’s when the program was restarted, and Tombaugh used her calculations to locate the planet. Prior to Lowell’s death Elizabeth met and married George Hall Hamilton a fellow astronomer who also worked at Lowell Observatory. After Lowell’s death his widow dismissed both Elizabeth and George, because it was considered inappropriate to employ a married woman. They would both go on to work at the Mandeville observatory run by Harvard College Observatory.

Letter from Elizabeth Williams to Percival Lowell discussing Planet X calculations

Laura Banks-Reed

Yet another example of a giant in Arizona’s history is Laura Banks-Reed, a principal, teacher, and civil rights activist. She was born in Barrio Anite, Tucson and was one of nine siblings. She attended Dunbar School and graduated from Tucson High School in 1939. Laura would eventually return to be a teacher at Dunbar School in 1943, eight years before it was desegregated. Dr. Banks-Reed attended the University of Arizona where she double majored in Physical Education and Elementary Education, she then went on to graduate school where she obtained a master’s degree in education. Eventually she would go on to receive her doctorate in education. During her time at U of A working on her Physical Education degree she faced a large problem. She was required to do practical work in swimming, but blacks were not allowed in the pool. Laura and her mother worked to convince the head of the department the outdated Jim Crow-era rule was antiquated and had it permanently removed.

Laura worked as a teacher and principal of several different Tucson elementary schools, eventually retiring from her position as the first black Assistant Superintendent of Tucson’s largest school district. While these accomplishments are all impressive on their own, Laura found time to serve as the president of the local NAACP and YWCA (the first woman to ever hold these positions), was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and worked to end discrimination and segregation in Tucson. Laura was a true trailblazer often being the first woman or first black woman to hold many of the positions she did in her lifetime. She left behind a legacy of activism, leadership, kindness, mentorship and so much more. For her tireless dedication to activism, she has two buildings in Tucson named after her, the Laura Nobles Banks Elementary School and the Dr. Laura Banks-Reed Center for Gender and Racial Equity at the YWCA.

Arizona Tribune, Friday, February 23, 1962, pg. 4

Summary

These women are a vital part of Arizona culture, history, politics, and daily life. They have left legacies behind that have influenced generations of Arizonans and how we live our lives. But they are not the only ones! Women like Annie Dodge Wauneka, Anastasia “Ana” Collins Frohmiller, Frances “Fannie” Lillian Willard Munds, Lorna Elizabeth Lockwood, Nellie Trent Bush, and so many more also deserve recognition! We honor their legacies, their contributions, and their lives. They blazed trails that women were not often times allowed to or had never walked before.