Robert Lloyd Smith taught at the school before becoming principal.[5] He was active in seeking to improve the lives of the community's African Americans and formed an improvement society for farmers.[6] The section where they lived was known as Freedmantown.[1]
Smith travelled from Oakland to Hampton Institute to speak and discussions included establishing an agricultural college in Texas following the Tuskegee teaching model.[7]
A historical marker was erected for the school in 1990.[3]