MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past.
BILL WILL MOTEL and RESTAURANT. U.S. Highway 51 South–Phone 1480–Canton, Mississippi. 100% Air-Conditioned and Central Heat–TV–Telephones in Rooms–Tub & Shower Combination Tiled Baths–Swimming Pool–Children’s Playground. Also BILL WILL MOTEL, Highway 80 West, Jackson, Miss. Member Congress of Motor Hotels. American Motor Hotel Association.
Preservation in Mississippi 
Those tiny windows suggest rooms which must be dark and grim. Is this place still in business?
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I’m not sure. I guess the thinking behind those windows is that they’re high enough to keep open for breeze and light while maintaining relative privacy for the occupants?
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That is a good guess!
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My uncle built and was part owner of this motel. Duane and Lena Akins (both have passed on to heaven) were the owners and operators of this motel. In later years the motel was used in the filming of “A Time To Kill” , in the jury the jury was sequestered in this motel. For many years this was the only motel in Canton, Mississippi. When I was a child, I would visit my Aunt and Uncle for 2 weeks every summer at the Bill Will Motel, it was fun because they had a swimming pool, that was a big thing in 1960!
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Hi, I saw the Bill Will Motel in the movie A Time to Kill the other night. My name is actually Bill Will so I was wondering how this motel took the name Bill Will. Do you know the significance and origin of the motel and it’s name?
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I have never heard where the name came from, but I always assumed it was owned by someone named Bill Will. Maybe somebody out there knows and will share!
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I was on my way to Biloxi when I had car trouble. After being toated around that late night, The guy in the wrecker took us to the Bill Will, across the road from where his business was. I was with my wife, 2yr old daughter, and elderly parents, Pop was in a wheel chair. The BW was the only place available around there because the New Kids on the Block were in Jackson that weekend. I was just a little skeptical at first, but turned out to be a good weekend. We didn’t make it to Biloxi, but it will be a weekend I’ll always remember.
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That was in 1990
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The motel is still there, but it is a budget inn or something now. One of my friend’s parents ran the Bill will in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I remember when they filled in the swimming pool.
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Why was it named The Bill Will?
Does anyone know the origin of the hotel?
The reason I ask is that’s my name!
Bill Will
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