Sean Dengler.

Driving between Cedar Falls and Des Moines has happened many times in my life. Whether it was visiting my then-girlfriend, now wife, in Des Moines after she graduated early from college or while making random trips back to the Cedar Valley, I know this route like the back of my hand. There are two ways to make this trip. Taking Highway 330 and Highway 14 is a little longer timewise but a small number of miles. This scenic route passes through Grundy Center and Albion, but it can take longer than advertised when stuck behind a leisurely driver on the stretch of two-lane roads.

The faster route is to go on Interstate 35 and Highway 20. While efficient, this straight north/south and east/west road is boring. If one is running behind, it provides a quick route in between these two cities.

Either route has recognizable landmarks including the beautiful bridge over the Iowa River valley on Highway 20 or the big bend on Highway 330 slightly northeast of Bondurant. Landmarks dot the landscape on either path.

On my most recent drive through central Iowa, one of the memorable landmarks changed or seemed like it had changed. On the north side of Highway 20 and slightly east of Interstate 35-Highway 20 interchange, a corn crib stands tall. This old corn crib always fascinated me. It and a few old grain bins stand along in the middle of a field. What used to be farmstead where a family lived, now amounts to only a few structures left standing.

This farmstead stood long before the interstate cut through a good portion of this part of farm country. Despite going out of style, this crib stood unprotected for many years with no windbreak in the cold, windy terrain of Iowa winters and the humid, windy Iowa summers. Most corn cribs standing on an operating farmstead have been retrofitted for another use such as a small storage area or solar panel holder like my parent’s old corn crib.

What all corn cribs do whether on an operating farm or not, mark what used to be a place of memories. While most of the farmstead has been razed, corn cribs like the one I drove by, stand alone waiting for mother nature to finally topple her. Once this happens, the crib can be put out to “pasture” and more than likely become integrated into a corn and soybean field.

This futile demise is for a structure which has stories to tell and history to share from its years of previous generations on what used to be an operating farm. The help and hope this crib provided to a family who was trying to make a go of it on the farm. Memories were created while a family worked in it, on it, and played around it. Maybe those memories no longer exist as those who had them have since passed on, but the corn cribs like this one in central Iowa still stand tall as a reminder of what has been.

Back to this specific corn crib sighting. For years, it stood strong against the Iowa elements. While it has been less than six months since I have last driven this route, I noticed the strong west winds toppled the corn crib to fall on its east walls. After a Google Maps look through, I realized my attentive eye was not as attentive. This corn crib has been toppled since at least some point in 2022.

Either way, a small grain bin caught most of the side of the corn crib. This marks another step closer to its eventual burial. Someone will eventually decide this less than sturdy corn crib is finally worth tearing down. Instead of metaphorically for the ones who own this land, it will literally be buried out of sight and out of mind. With this last action, this landmark – one I and many others have passed for years – will be gone and forgotten. What used to be a sign of opportunity for a farmer, vanished.

Some might believe this is progress while I see consolidation and wealth leaving rural Iowa. What it truly marks are the disappearance of Iowa history and the loss of the American Dream. We can all agree this makes it a tad bit sad.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, now-retired beginning farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.