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By Billy Singleton | Special to The Advertiser

In May 1950, The Union Banner newspaper announced the construction of an exciting new business addition to the City of Clanton. Located one mile south of downtown at the crest of Dennis Hill, a modern 24-unit tourist court would provide overnight accommodations for travelers driving through Clanton along Highway 31, the Dixie Bee-Line that stretched from the Great Lakes to Miami, Florida. Taking advantage of the opportunity to offer comfortable, affordable and attractive overnight lodgings for visitors, business partners Roscoe Williams and Ed Mullins branded their new venture the Cloverleaf Motel.

Constructed of concrete blocks with stucco siding on the exterior, the new motor court would be advertised as being fireproof. The interior included attractive plastered walls, private tiled baths, panel-ray heating and air cooling; modern conveniences not readily available in private homes of the period.

A native of Thomaston, Roscoe Otis Williams graduated from the University of Alabama before relocating to Miami to pursue a career as an airline pilot. Williams would spend five years piloting Douglas DC-3 cargo aircrafts primarily on routes between Miami and cities in Colombia in South America.

Desiring to return to Alabama, Williams agreed to enter a partnership with Ed Mullins of Clanton to build the tourist court. As the owner-operator, Williams and his family lived at the motel. During the next decade, improvements to the Cloverleaf Motel included fully carpeted rooms and free television. Visitors were able to enjoy home cooked meals in the new restaurant that was connected to the motor court. Proudly displaying the American Automobile Association Seal of Approval, guests could reserve a room at the Cloverleaf Motel by dialing 1061 in Clanton.

Construction of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System would become one of the most noteworthy events in the history of Chilton County. Because the new thoroughfare would bypass downtown Clanton, local business owners anticipated a considerable reduction in the number of tourists stopping to make purchases, dining at local restaurants and staying overnight in motels in the city. Recognizing the potential impact on his business, Roscoe Williams decided, “If the tourists won’t come to me, I’ll go to the tourists.”

Williams soon purchased a parcel of land on a hill near the junction of the new interstate and Highway 31, ironically referred to as the “cloverleaf,” near the former site of Cordrey’s Old Mill. On March 1, 1961, workers began construction of the new 52-room, two-story Holiday Inn — the 200th location of this hotel chain in the United States.

The new hotel offered spacious accommodations with guest rooms finished in shades of mint-green, pink ice, gold or pumpkin, wall-to-wall carpeting, king-sized beds, year-round air-conditioning, a 24-hour switchboard, pet kennels and a bonded baby-sitting service for guests with children less than twelve years of age. The Y-shaped swimming pool was one of the largest of the Holiday Inn chain of hotels.

J.E. Easterling, owner of the Dixie Café in Clanton, leased the spacious 150-seat dining area that could accommodate banquets, large parties and conventions. To ensure that everyone would be served according to their individual tastes, Easterling secured a chef who learned Southern cooking at his home of Eclectic and the foreign culinary arts in some of the most outstanding restaurants in Paris, France. The modern stainless-steel kitchen featured a heating unit capable of simultaneously cooking thirty steaks, one inch in thickness, in less than four minutes. Offering seafood, steaks, homemade yeast rolls and pies, the restaurant of the Holiday Inn soon became a popular destination for interstate travelers and residents of Clanton.

The Clanton Holiday Inn would remain a landmark in Chilton County for almost four decades. Generations of Peach Queen contestants would be photographed next to the large swimming pool in preparation for the swimsuit competition. Having lunch at the Holiday Inn after church services on Sunday to feast on a buffet of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, home cooked vegetables and desert became a tradition for families throughout Chilton County.

Before his death in August 1999, Williams would construct additional Holiday Inn hotels in Prattville, Montgomery and Selma. As an aviator, entrepreneur and innkeeper, Roscoe Otis Williams became a respected civic leader in his adopted home of Clanton. More than sixty years after Williams realized his dream of constructing a modern hotel in the city, the former site of the Holiday Inn will become a new four-story Hampton Inn and Suites by Hilton. Although the hotel brand and management have changed, the legacy of Roscoe Williams as the Innkeeper of Clanton will forever be ingrained in the history of Chilton County.