His mother encouraged him to study under Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute, and he did so, earning a high school certificate in 1917.

[3][4] Brown was drawing upon what he learned from Booker T. Washington and at Tuskegee Institute and also from the Rosenwald schools being built throughout the American South.

The stated goal of "head, heart, and hand" with vocational and academic education even for students who could not pay the tuition mirror that of John Brown University which was established at the same time in Arkansas.

It opened on Jan. 1, 1920 with a one-room building, one teacher named Ruth Mahon, and fifteen elementary school age students.

The school's finances were aided by its farm and home economic crafts, and by Brown's significant fundraising efforts.

Despite this, the classwork at Fargo remained relatively unchanged[7] and the school was run with the same ideals for academic and vocational education.

The Dr. Floyd Brown building became the center of the school, housing the dorm rooms, kitchen and cafeteria, classrooms, chapel, auditorium, and office space.

In 1981, the state sold the unused property to the newly-founded Arkansas Land and Farm Development Corporation (ALFDC), a nonprofit that works with area farmers, ranchers, and other rural families.

[7] At 543 Floyd Brown Drive, across the street from the Teacher's Cottage, this building was constructed in 1958 to replace a frame structure used by the Fargo Agricultural School.

Floyd Brown helped establish this museum for the Fargo Agricultural School alumni, by donating $10,000 for its construction.

[7][4] At 551 Floyd Brown Drive, across the street from the museum, this one-story nonagonal building was constructed in about 1960, also in the International style.