Known as Bluffton from about 1835 to 1893, the community was incorporated as Bluffton in 1865, then renamed Lanett, with the town of Lanett incorporated in 1893 and its charter approved in 1895. Early records mention academies, including two near this site, and the Presbyterian Church was organized in 1837 at the home of Thomas S. Reese. Bluffton's tanyard produced leather for the Confederacy. Lanett Cotton Mills was incorporated in 1892 and Lanett Bleachery and Dye Works in 1895; they later became subsidiaries, then divisions, of West Point Manufacturing Company. Lanett's early mayors were George Newton Croft, Sr., E. B. Reid, and James D. Norman. Forrest "Fob" James, elected Governor of the State of Alabama on November 7, 1978, was born in Lanett, lived here through young manhood, and received his early education in the city's public school system. In October 1798, Benjamin Hawkins journeyed through present Chambers County near the Chattahoochee, and his path crossed the present city of Lanett; his journal records the first known journey through this area.