There are now two London bridges in the world. One spanning the majestic River Thames in London, and the other over the regal Lake Havasu in Arizona. The latter is not just a naming gimmick — it is the actual Old London Bridge, which for centuries brought pedestrians, wagons, and for a while cars across the Thames. That traffic increased in the early decades of the 20th century to the point where the bridge was no longer able to keep up in capacity, and a new one was constructed nearby. Meanwhile, the question of what to do with the old one was solved by Robert McCulloch, Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation and the founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

On this day, October 10, in 1971, the Old London Bridge, reconstructed like a jigsaw puzzle over Lake Havasu much as it stood over the Thames, opened. McCulloch financed the project — 2.4 million for the bridge, plus seven more for transportation and construction.

Each stone of the bridge was sequentially numbered, to be put back literally in the same location. Most also had a chunk sliced off to make the overall length shorter. Re-assembly took several years, but was finally completed in a gala celebration that proved the rumors flying around were true — someone did indeed buy a bridge in London.