Quality Inn, Jackson: What Happened To It?

The former Quality Inn sits on I-94 between the Elm Street & Cooper Street exits. During the 1970s it was where many a Jacksonian would go for Sunday dinner, for one of Quality’s popular broasted chicken dinners: half a chicken, stuffing, potato and vegetable.

The homemade spaghetti sauce brought many people in, on any given weeknight. It was made with 25-30 different ingredients (no exaggeration) and secret spices that nobody was able to re-create. It was incredible sauce. Then the chef who made the sauce quit and the sauce was left up to kitchen staff who had no clue how to make it. They were content to slap some hamburger patties on the grill, chop ‘em up with a spatula, and dump it in tomato sauce. That was the beginning of the downfall.

Quality Inns began in Florida back in 1939, established in 1941 as Quality Courts United as a co-op for seven motor court owners. It was the first hotel chain in the United States, featuring wall-to-wall carpeting, new linens every day, 24-hour desk service, and in-room telephones.

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Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the number of Quality motels grew and by the early 1960s one finally appeared in Jackson.

In 1963 the name became Quality Courts Motel

In 1972, Quality Courts was renamed as Quality Inn.

In the early 1980s, Quality Inns were divided into three different groups, locations were being sold off, and during the 1980s, the Quality Inn in Jackson was sold and became the Rodeway.

It changed hands off and on and is today called Travelodge.