In 1812, hemp factories in Bourbon and Fayette counties accounted for over 94 percent of bagging produced along the Maysville Road, and 73 percent of the state’s total production. Merchant-manufacturers of Lexington and Paris found great profit in hemp and cotton productions, tapping into the cash crop that flourished in southern Kentucky (Friend, 2005). As the hemp industry began to show profits, the local manufacturing industry continued to develop around what is now known as the Maysville & Lexington pike. Local manufacturers in Paris like Samuel Williams, William Alexander, and Samuel Pike all made bagging, rope, and twine made of hemp fiber and made fortunes from the expanding industry.

Kentucky led the nation in hemp production in 1840 (Brown, 2002), while Bourbon and Fayette Counties led the state. Hemp production became even more profitable for Bourbon County when the southern terminus of the Maysville- Lexington Railroad was constructed in 1854 and Paris was designated the most important shipping point in Kentucky. (Collins, 1878). However, by 1859, the county had fallen behind Fayette, Woodford, Boyle, Scott, Mason, and Jessamine counties in production (Hopkins, 1951).

After the Civil War, local farmers produced a crop of 569 tons in 1870. By 1900, production declined with a brief revival during the World Wars. Several hemp dealers and manufacturers also managed to find success toward the turn of the century. E.F. Spears and Sons and Charles S. Brent & Brothers dealt in hemp during the late 19th century into the early 20th century and were some of the last known dealers in Bourbon County. One of E. F. Spears’ last hemp contracts was for the renovation of the battleship Constitution around 1920 (Scott & Scott, 2002). While the industry experienced brief influxes during WWI and WWII, hemp production ceased in the area by the late 1940s.

The planting, growing, harvesting, and processing of hemp was difficult and dangerous labor. As Kentucky was the leading producer of hemp prior to 1850, historian James F. Hopkins asserts that hemp is the reason slavery was allowed to flourish here. Even after the Civil War many formerly enslaved people were still doing this work with the transition to sharecropping, continuing the exploitation of black labor.

Breaking hemp was hard work as one man had to continually lift and drop the upper part of the break in order to crack open the stalks and reach the fiber. It was a much more labor intensive process than that of picking and cleaning cotton.