Dr. Felix Grundy McGavock graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and from the University of Nashville. After graduation, Dr. McGavock pursued two careers, agriculture and medicine. In 1857, Felix Grundy McGavock and his wife moved to Mississippi County, Arkansas, where he managed an 1800-acre plantation and developed an extensive medical practice.

During the Civil War, Felix Grundy McGavock remained a farmer and demonstrated that cotton could be successfully cultivated with white labor. After the war, cotton was in great demand and brought from 70 to 90 cents per pound. Dr. McGavock went to New York City and Chicago to hire German, Irish, and Chinese immigrants to work on his Arkansas plantation. He paid $20 per month and provided board for his workers. He was also a horticulturist of note, experimenting with orchard and grain crops. Dr. McGavock served one term in the Arkansas legislature, 1881-83. He was famed for his generosity and hospitality and was considered the most remarkable man in Mississippi County, Arkansas. Felix Grundy McGavock died in 1897 and was buried in Nashville, Tennessee.