Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, the United States government put forth a mighty war machine to fight its enemies in two theaters of action. Men were sent to far off places to fight and back home industries were turning out much needed materials for that war machine. In 1942, the United States Department of Agriculture produced a black and white film that encouraged farmers across our nation to do their share for the war effort. Farmers helped the war effort by producing food products and by growing plants to make rope, yarn, and twine.
Rope had been extremely important to the war efforts through the centuries. When the United States Navy was using sailing ships to protect our coastlines, rope was needed for the riggings and anchor lines. Our most famous sailing frigate was launched in 1797 and would use over 60 tons of roping for its riggings alone. Even though the old sailing ships were no longer used by the Navy to fight the sea battles of World War II, the Navy still needed large amount of rope for daily operations.
To supply the need of rope, the United States imported jute and hemp from countries in Central America and Asia. With the Axis powers deploying submarines to close down trade, the United States had to come up with a way to produce the missing imported fibers. The decision was made to grow hemp in the Midwest and South. To help with meeting this goal the film “Hemp for Victory” was issued during 1942. This film explained why hemp was important and how to grow the once thought of weed for the war effort.
By 1943 the push to grow hemp had arrived in Henry County. The Geneseo City Council announced that visiting representatives from the federal government explained that in order for the Maple City to host a federally funded hemp-processing mill the area farmers would need to commit to planting 4,000 acres of hemp before building could begin. Once the commitment was made farmers would need to register with the federal government to get a special tax stamp for growing hemp for fibers. After the 4,000 acres were assigned the government would supply a specialized harvester. Harvesting would take place when the male plant began to shed its pollen. In Illinois that meant harvesting in a normal season would take place the last week of August or the first week of September. At that time the farmer would use the harvester to cut the hemp stalks close to the ground, spreading them out in swaths with the cut ends laying even and towards the center of the field. The hemp is then left in the field until the stalks begin to rot, this makes it easier to separate the fibers from the outer stalk.
While Geneseo was discussing the merits of getting the hemp mill built in town and trying to convince farmers to sign-up other Henry County communities were doing the same. In February of 1943 the local newspapers headlines stated “Henry County To Grow 4,000 Acres of Hemp.” A few days after the headlines ran Henry County citizens knew that Galva would become home for the new hemp mill. Since Geneseo was unable to get enough farmers to commit acreage for the hemp crop, the factory would be built on the Johnny Martin farm one and one-half miles west of Galva on the south side of route 34. The mill would cost the federal government between $2500,000 and $350,000 to build and by May of 1943 George F. Hayes and Herman Johnson were hired as the management team. The mill was built like the mills that were constructed in neighboring towns of Galesburg, Ladd, Earlville, Polo, Lexington, and Wyoming. Each mill complex consisted of a mill building, a straw storage building, a dryer building, a bale storage building, a boiler house with a chimney, a shop and an office building. Each of these building was set on a concrete foundation and had cement walls with wooden roofs.
The Galva mill would not produce any rope for the war effort in the short time it was in operation. The building processed and stored the hemp that was grown by local farmers. During 1944 the mill employed close to 40 employees who worked to shifts getting the harvested hemp processed so it would not spoil.
The local farmer would do a little better than break even for their efforts in growing hemp. The 1943 crop that was harvested and processed at the Wyoming, Illinois mill brought in 950 tons of fibrous hemp, which cleared $90 per acre for each farmer. A nine-acre plot near the Galva mill made $1,800 for the farmer’s efforts also in 1943.
With the Allies gaining control of the sea and shipping once again safe, the need for locally grown hemp went up in smoke. Early in 1944 it was announce that 42 Midwest hemp mills would be shut down. This included the Galesburg, Wyoming, and Galva mills. By 1945 an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal stated that 42 government-owned hemp mills were for sale or lease. The mill near Galva was sold to the Metzger Trailer Coach Company for $63,500 in September of 1946. With this sale, the war hemp growing and processing in Henry County came to a close.
Photograph of what the 1940's Henry County Hemp Factory was to look like
Harvested Hemp stacked in a Henry County field
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