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It’s not bad enough that Iowa’s scenic old barns are falling to pieces. Now the quirky urban stuff is being hustled off the stage.

A few weeks ago, I was excited to see that the 26-foot-tall bowling pin adorning the old Lincoln Highway entrance to Marshalltown was available for purchase. I’ve driven past it a thousand times, but never dared to dream about taking it home. That thing would make a fantastic mailbox holder.

Or, to share the visual excitement with my fellow Central Iowans, a more heavily trafficked location might be good. Downtown Des Moines, which is a fine place to kill time while you’re waiting for a parking space to open up at West Glen Town Center, already has a giant umbrella and a supersized garden trowel on display, and now it’s getting a sculpture garden. I think people would accept the bowling pin as a companion piece to the umbrella if we got a Sharpie and added a “Claes Oldenburg” autograph.

But perhaps not. The king of pins might end up in some out-of-the-way backwater where Iowans rarely venture. Milwaukee loves bowling, you know. Or maybe nobody will buy it, and it will be knocked to pieces.

Unfortunately, a gem that was already part of downtown Des Moines seems to be headed out. It was reported last week that Don’s East Grand Service Station is listed for sale on eBay. The perfect little gas station that sat at 203 E. Grand Ave. for 76 years now perches on beams at East Third and Walnut streets, lonely and silent. It’s a jarring sight, like a bright, handcrafted float sitting unattended on a side street after the parade is over.

The bidding starts at $26,000, and don’t forget to consider the shipping cost. If you have accumulated a lot of those “forever” stamps, this might be the time to use them.

Rather than let these artifacts disappear from public view, it might be time to resurrect my long-cherished dream of assembling Iowa’s smallest buildings and most unique objets d’stuff in one place.

We could put together a town square featuring the tiny vacant gas station at the north edge of Grundy Center, the miniature house in the park in Monroe and the Calvary Wayside Chapel – four two-person pews – in Pella.

Also, it would be nice to add the rather large pink flamingo from the Flamingo Motel, another Marshalltown landmark, if the motel owners ever get tired of it.

Technically speaking, some of these items may not be for sale. It wouldn’t hurt to let people know we’re interested, that’s all. It’s not that we want to form a vigilante group, storming across Iowa, grabbing what we want and hauling it to Polk County. That’s what we pay the Legislature for.

It’s more of a noble exercise in conservation, making sure that these memorable details don’t vanish forever.

Such things do happen. For years, I’ve looked forward to seeing the stone barn just southwest of the University of Northern Iowa campus whenever I go up there. It should have become a restaurant or something, but I’ve been told the owner wouldn’t sell. A couple of years ago, some serious cracks showed up. They widened, a corner fell away, and sometime this spring that wonderful old structure was torn down.

We’ve gone from barn raising to barn razing, and there’s no way back.

The odd and impressive creations that dot the countryside, the unglamorous structures that reflect more craftsmanship than we’re now willing to pay for, those are the things that need preserving.

The business district of Traer features a spiral staircase that inspired one of the all-time great town slogans: “Wind Up in Traer.” Not too far away, Tama has a bridge with concrete railings that spell out “Lincoln Highway.”

Someday those towns might need some spending cash. Let’s be ready.