SAN BENITO — When Diana Artiaga arrived Monday morning at the 1902 historical home she and her husband Jesus have been renovating for months, she was stunned and hurt, but mostly heartbroken.
For the second straight weekend, vandals damaged the historically-significant James L. Landrum house located south of San Benito on Military Highway.
The front door window had been shattered with a brick, two other old windows on the south side of the house were broken and eggs covered parts of the outside of the house and there were car tire tracks in the front yard.
The vandals gained entry, but Artiaga said they didn’t damage anything inside, other than stealing a construction type of radio.
“We are very sad this happened,” Artiaga said of her and her husband’s response. “It’s a piece of history. So we are very saddened by the situation and maybe someone from the community has seen something. We are heartbroken, really.”
She and workers left the house at about 7:30 p.m. Friday, Veterans Day.
“We came back this morning to a big surprise,” she said about going to the house yesterday. “It was very, very disappointing.”
Artiaga said even those working on the home were affected by the damage as significant work had been completed on the old home. The workers have bonded with the house and one of them had eyes filled with tears after finding the vandalism.
“It must have been some kids with nothing to do,” she said.
For the past nearly seven months, workers have replaced the roof and added new trim.
Inside the home, they refinished the original wood floors, brought in antique furniture, added cabinets and tile backsplash in the kitchen, among other cleaning and painting efforts. Electrical upgrades have been made while plumbing repairs are in the works. There is a large barn in the back that has been built.
But, she didn’t call the vandalism a real setback. Instead, plans are continuing to open the place up to tourists and locals early next year. Artiaga said “after the holidays.”
She said the most difficult repair will be to find replacement glass panes for the entry door that is an oval blue-chip. They don’t make it like they used to, Diana said of the old windows.
“Why did you have to break that?” Diana said as though she was talking to the vandals.
She knows she and her husband will never be able to truly replicate and replace the old glass that was broken. That is the real loss, she said.
“We are not giving up,” she said. “We will move on and hopefully get it done on time.”
In April, the Artiaga’s shared their story of why they purchased the home and their intent to remodel, preserve and later open it to the public on a quarterly basis so people of the area could enjoy and understand the history of the area.
The couple, who reside in Brownsville, had driven past the property in December of 2015. There was a for sale sign in the front yard. A few months later, it was theirs.
The old house has significant history. It was apparently a stopping point for the U.S. military and for missionaries who traveled the Valley on horseback when the Valley was mostly large ranches and plantations.
