 During his tenure the first building of what became Grady Memorial Hospital was built and a fresh-water pumping station was established on the Chattahoochee River replacing the need for various wells and cisterns (for fires).Part of the purchased for the associated reservoir included a newly built street named in his honorHemphill Ave.

After leaving office, Hemphill read about the Cotton Palace in Waco, Texas, and suggested that Atlanta could stimulate growth by hosting what would become the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895.He later served as vice president and director of the Exposition.