STONEWALL JACKSON MOTOR LODGE. 37 Units–Air Conditioned–Tiled Combination Baths–Telephones and Television in rooms–Wall to Wall Carpeted. Paul’s Restaurant in connection. Inside city limits on U.S. Highway 80 West. Phone 4-1653, Jackson, Mississippi. “A Paramount Motel”
New Motel Stands “Like a Stonewall” With The Use of Jax-Lite Masonry Units
Stopping Yankees was the job of General T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson, of Civil war fame.
And his name will continue to stop Yankees–and Rebels alike–on the edge of Jackson with the completion of a new motel on Highway 80 West.
Dedicated to the memory of the hero of the Battle of Bullrun, the new motel will open December 15, along with a restaurant being built as a part of the facility.
Air conditioned throughout, the motel will have 37 units plus a two-bedroom apartment for its manager.
On completion, the entire unit will be purchased by O.L. Burger, real estate investor, of Dallas, Texas.
Burger, in Jackson to check construction progress this week, said “no corners have been cut in building the Stonewall Jackson motel.”
“We have used the finest materials available throughout the construction. We had to set 150 pilings in concrete for a sub-foundation,” he said. “That should be enough to support a 10-story building.”
The new motel, being built on property with a 250 foot frontage is located a few blocks west of the Highway 80 Drive-in theatre.
Exterior of the motel will be red brick veneer, backed up by 4x8x16 inch Jax-Lite masonry units, a product of the concrete masonry division of Jackson Ready-Mix Concrete. For further insulation, rock will be blown between the two walls.
Floyd Butler, construction foreman, said the double wall with insulating material will offer more thorough and economical temperature control in addition to making the units virtually sound and fire proof.
Interior walls will feature plaster over the Jax-Lite units, with two basic colors, gold and mauve.
Furniture will be solid oak with plastic tops. The furniture and decorations will be contemporary rather than modern. The motor court will feature an equal number of rooms with one and two double beds. Each room will have wall-to-wall carpets.
The office lobby will feature modern tubular steel furniture with foam rubber cushions, and each unit will have draw-drapes.
Catering to the traveling families, the Stonewall Jackson Motor Court will have play ground facilities and cribs to accommodate children of all ages.
The Stonewall Jackson restaurant will seat 78 persons.
The office will be located on the Northeast corner of the “horse-shoe” shaped motel, with a covered carport for drive-in service for guests.
“I’ll probably add a swimming pool in the center of the patio later,” Burger said,” but that can wait until the rest of the construction is completed.”
With a 12-inch concrete block foundation over pilings set in concrete and with the brick veneer and Jax-Lite walls, the new motor court should well live up to its namesake who became famous for standing in battle “like a stone-wall.”
Clarion-Ledger, Dec. 5, 1955, p. 4
The Stonewall Jackson Motel was located at 1943 W. Hwy 80, and the building is still there, although the amazing neon sign has, sadly, been replaced with a bland backlit sign indicating the latest operator, Travel Inn.
Can’t get enough concrete blocks?
Categories: Historic Preservation, Hotels
Preservation in Mississippi 
It’s Bull Run, not Bullrun.
#mybackyard
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https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsThe 1955 newspaper story mentions the motel was “located a few blocks west of the Highway 80 Drive-in theatre.” Just curious where that was. Assuming maybe the intersection of Terry Road and 80, where Mart 51 later (?) and still stands. This was seven years before we moved to (north) Jackson, but for a while after that there was still a drive-in in the north part of town at the SW corner of the intersection of State Street (Hwy 51) and Meadowbrook, that I think was called the 51 Drive-in. The shopping center that replaced that drive-in must be about the same vintage as Mart 51.
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It was on the other side of Hwy 80 sort of behind where the Alamo Inn was located. I can’t recall the name but it was an old and fading drive-in even way back in 1970 when my parents and I watched “A Man Called Horse” there. I was only 9 years old. Didn’t last much after that. There was another drive in farther west on Hwy 80 towards Clinton with two screens, the Rebel and the Bulldog. It lasted longer until at least the late 70’s. The big one was the Town and Country 3 (Named that as it had three screens) out at the Reservoir in Rankin County. I saw a LOT of flicks there in the mid 70’s and on. (I lived nearby)
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