James Baird Weaver and Clara Vinson Weaver built this stately brick home shortly after the Civil War for their family on three acres in Bloomfield, surrounded by maple and elm trees and a small stream crossed by a covered footbridge. James Weaver came to Iowa with his family in 1843 at age 10, carried mail on horseback from Bloomfield to Fairfield at 15, and in March 1853 joined a cattle drive of 52 head to California before returning to Iowa by ocean and the Isthmus of Panama route, disillusioned by the goldfields. After earning a law degree, his intellect and speaking ability led him into politics. One of the first to answer Lincoln's call in April 1861, he enlisted in the 2nd Iowa Infantry, fought at Fort Donnellson, Shiloh, and Corinth, rose to major and then colonel for leadership under fire, and at war's end was commissioned brigadier general for gallantry, remaining known as General Weaver throughout his active life. For nearly five decades he was active in Iowa and national politics, becoming a leading spokesman for the Greenback and Populist movements and advocating reforms later adopted, including the eight-hour work day, breaking up monopolies such as the railroads, popular election of senators, a graduated income tax, national paper currency, an isthmian canal, prohibition, a department of labor, and women's suffrage. He ran for president in 1880 on the Greenback Party ticket while living in the house and again in 1892 on the Populist Party ticket, receiving 22 electoral votes. A century later, in 1975, the house was designated a National Historic Landmark because of Weaver's significance as a national third-party political figure rather than for its architecture, his trip to the goldfields, his Civil War service, or his time as a congressman.