JACK COGHILL SPOTLIGHT

District 11 would like to add a little history to its website. We will feature different Republicans that have had an impact on Alaska.

First on the list is Jack Coghill, who when serving as state chairman of the Republican Party was known as "Mr. Republican". Jack was mayor of Nenana for twenty-two years. He served in the first territorial legislature and has been an elected member of both the Alaska State House of Representatives and the Alaska State Senate. He was a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, which drafted the Alaska State Constitution. He was a founding member of UAF College of Fellows and he served as Lt. Governor from 1990 to 1994. At eighty-years-old, Jack continues his public service as a Nenana City Councilman.

This picture was taken September 16th, 2005 when current Lt. Governor Loren Leman (on the right) visits former Lt. Governor Jack Coghill in Nenana.

Several years ago, the surviving members of the constituional convention and the constitutional convention staff gathered in Juneau to reflect on their memories of the convention. Jack Coghill is fifth from the left.

Jack is still counseled by Alaskan leaders about the language of the Alaska State Constitution and the intent of the Constitutional Convention when adopting that language. Jack is now eighty-years-old and is near completion of his autobiography. He lived in District 11 with his wife Francis or several years after serving as Lt. Governor. When Francis passed on, Jack moved back to Nenana where his roots started. He constinues to be an advocate for controlled government and personal rights. His son, Representative John Coghill serves on behalf of District 11 in the Alaska State House and is House Majority Leader.

In 2004, the Alaska State Legislature enacted HB 304 which named Bridge #216 the "Jack Coghill Bridge to the Interior". The sign was put up this summer to commemorate this man of vision and determination.

In 1961, while serving in the State House, Jack Coghill worked on getting state funding to build a bridge over the Nenana River just south of Nenana at Rex. There were no roads going to or from the area at the time, so it was a tough sell. Jack said if the bridge was built, roads would connect the Interior to Southcentral Alaska.

Some legislators found humor in the idea of building a bridge with no connecting roads and called the bridge "Jack Coghill's Bridge to Nowhere." Despite the criticism, Jack proceeded in getting the funding for not only the bridge but the road that now allows Alaskans to travel between Fairbanks and Anchorage in six hours on the Parks Highway versus the twelve hour trip down the Glenn and Richardson Highways.

Coghill's General Store was established in 1916 by Jack Coghill's dad. The store is still operated by the Coghill Family.

Another landmark in Nenana is the Nenana Railroad Station for the Alaska Railroad..