The Howard Weeden House was built by Henry C. Bradford as the home of several distinguished early Huntsvillians in 1819. It was intended to be a showplace on the frontier.

Henry Bradford, a merchant from Nashville, moved to Texas after his business went bankrupt following the Panic of 1819. The other owners of the house before the Weedens include banker-planter General Bartley M. Lowe and John McKinley, who became an associate justice of the US Supreme Court. In 1845, Dr. William Weeden purchased the house for his family.

Today, the Federal Period house features elaborate interior and exterior carvings, an entrance hall with Adamesque curves, stairway and rear wall. Its focal point is the spiral staircase with magnificent handrails. The museum itself is surrounded with oak and cottonwood trees.