The town of Lanier, Ga in Macon County was named for one of the early settlers among whom were George W. Law, Eli Taunton, John Sturdevant, Robert Green, Slaughter Hill, and Clement A. Lanier, Esq.
It soon was made the county seat with a courthouse, two hotels, warehouses, a stage coach stop and a post office. By 1840 the population was 200. Situated on a main highway and connected by ferry to another great highway which was the main link between North Georgia and the plantations of the southeast, the town seemed destined to become great.
By 1870, there was nothing left of the town but a modest cemetery. When the Central of Georgia Railroad extended their lines to nearby Oglethorpe, Lanier began to dwindle in size and importance. A John Mott moved the courthouse to Lowe on the road to Ellaville, where it stood in the 1930s as a beautiful old home. The one church in Lanier, a Methodist one, was moved to Pine Level. The Masonic Lodge was moved to Turner's Chapel and afterwards to Butler.
The people of Lanier moved to Perry,
Marshallville, Butler, Fort Valley and Oglethorpe. In 1854 Oglethorpe
was made the county seat and most of the remaining people of Lanier
moved their homes nearer to the completed railroad. Like many towns
which have been bypassed by super highways today and decline, the
railroad bypassing Lanier spelled death for the town which had such a
great promise for a prosperous future.
Contributed by: Emily O'Neal
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