Lake Havasu's visionary founders Cornelius Vanderbilt "C.V." Wood (left), December 17, 1920-March 14, 1992 and Robert Paxton McCulloch (May 11, 1911-Febrary 25, 1977): Robert P. McCulloch was the winning bidder at $2.4 million ($19 million in today's dollars). As Lake Havasu City's founder, he teamed up with C.V. Wood, Disneyland's master planner and the theme park's first employee, to design his dream city. An eccentric but visionary entrepreneur known for the McCulloch chainsaw brand, McCulloch had an idea that many thought was odd: reconstruct the bridge as an attraction to draw tourists and prospective buyers of residential lots.
