Barb Karnes, Wendy Griese, Carolyn Johnson and Shelly Raskovich of the Class of 1972 pose with a door that Griese bought in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
The former Nashwauk High School and Keewatin Elementary will be demolished in the coming weeks. But a few remaining treasures were saved Nov. 21, 2025.
NASHWAUK — Shelly Raskovich and Barb (Warwas) Karnes hadn’t been to Nashwauk High School since they graduated in 1972.
Karnes lives in Grand Rapids, but Raskovich drove all the way from Duluth to visit the school one last time Friday, Nov. 21, with their classmates Wendy (Nelson) Griese of Goodland and Carolyn (Bakken) Johnson of Pengilly.
"We have to do a walk-through, one final walk-through, and see who we remember, the classes, the teachers, the kids,” Griese said.
“And the things that have changed since we were here,” Raskovich added.
The Nashwauk-Keewatin School District hosted a liquidation sale Friday, selling off chairs, doors, books — whatever was left in the 105-year-old building. The district moved into its new PreK-12 building this fall.
People were lined up at the doors before the sale began, and over 200 people had been through with two hours to go.
Students were using the building until May, and the empty school is an eerie mix of abandoned and alive.
Bulletin boards still have honor rolls and sports schedules. A sign outside the gym says it is closed for graduation. Murals and posters and all the markers of a well-loved school still paint the walls of the hallways. Notes from teachers still mark some whiteboards.
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A bulletin board displays the honor roll and last year's sports schedule in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A sign from the 2024 graduation is posted outside the stage in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A timeline of the Nashwauk-Keewatin school buildings in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Nashwauk-Keewatin alumni talk in a hall of the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A sign inside the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, shows the new Nashwauk-Keewatin school in progress, a couple of months before the old school's demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A 9/11 mural from the Class of 2002 inside the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Classroom notes and the countdown to the end of the school year on a whiteboard inside the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A science classroom sits abandoned in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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An equation still written on the whiteboard in a science classroom in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Built-in wooden cabinets in a classroom in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A woman hauls away folding chairs with the Nashwauk-Keewatin Spartan from the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Awards from the 1920s sit inside the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition. The awards will be moved prior to demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Records and trophies sit in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition. The artifacts will be moved before demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A note from an alumnus on a whiteboard in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Specimens lie abandoned in a zoology classroom in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Sticky notes spell out "Kind!" on a chalkboard in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Class photos, trophies, awards and other records are piled in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition. The artifacts will be moved prior to demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The principal's office of the historic Nashwauk High School had a fireplace. Photographed on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
And yet there are piles of trash in many of the rooms. Desks and chairs were strewn haphazardly or shoved into a corner.
There were still some treasures to be found, like the old-school buttons the women found in the principal’s office and the doors to built-in cabinets that Griese claimed.
In a locked room sat piles and piles of records, trophies, photos and blueprints that still needed to be moved to the new school.
School Board member Barb Kalmi said the mural is currently in storage and will be going up in the new school next year.
“We haven't done any decorating of any kind over in the new building yet,” Kalmi said. “We were so eager to get kids in there. So, we have some space that we’re going to set it up.”
A community group fundraised for the move of the 15,000-tile mural, which will cost around $30,000.
Contributed
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Barb Kalmi
A mosaic mural made up of over 15,000 Venetian glass tiles was constructed in the 1960s in the Nashwauk High School library. The mural is in storage as of Nov. 21, 2025, and will eventually be put up in the new school.
Demolition equipment is expected to arrive at Keewatin Elementary in early December and will then move on to Nashwauk, likely early next year, according to Kalmi.
“It is sad to see it go,” Karnes said. “You know, I’d like to see it fixed, repurposed for something.”
Kalmi said it was cheaper to build a new school than to fix up the old ones, and even if they had renovated them, they still wouldn’t have been up to modern education design standards.
Nashwauk Elementary was demolished in 1979, and the original Keewatin Elementary was demolished in 1989.
The demolition of the remainder of the district’s historic buildings leaves just a few of the mining company-built schools left on the Range, including in Hibbing, Coleraine and Chisholm.
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The bleachers inside the former pool in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Tiling inside the former pool in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The old gym in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Light creeps through glass block windows onto the gym balcony in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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A crack in the wall of a stairwell at the historic Nashwauk High School shows the building's age and condition on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Hand-annotated blueprints dated Sept. 30, 1964, are in the archives at the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Irene Velo takes a photo of the spiral staircase in the girls' locker room in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition. Velo's children attended the school.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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Interior design materials for the new Nashwauk-Keewatin school sit inside the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The intricate design of an entrance to the century-old Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition. This entrance features a symbol that looks similar to a swastika. The symbol, which faces the opposite direction, is common in many cultures. This and other symbols on display at multiple Iron Range schools built in the 1920s are, according to Iron Range folklore, Native American motifs.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The "girl's entrance" to the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The kitchen in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The original exterior of the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, behind the gym addition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The band room in the historic Nashwauk High School on Nov. 21, 2025, a couple of months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
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The historic Nashwauk High School on Aug. 19, 2025, a few months before its demolition.
Megan Buffington / KAXE
Walking the halls brought up lots of memories for the girlfriends from ‘72: Climbing out of classroom windows onto the lawn (“We were mean,” Griese said), the mean math teacher (“I remember she was so strict,” Raskovich said), coming up with excuses so they didn’t have to swim in gym class (“And then we would sit up there [in the bleachers] and watch the other ones go swimming,” Griese said) and school lunch thieves.
“And so, to get even, two people put cat food on their sandwiches. So if you’re going to steal their lunches, they got cat food,” Johnson giggled.
Alumni and school board members Kalmi and Don Warwas shared memories of the school, too, like watching games from the gym balcony. There weren’t much for bleachers in the small gym.
“If you weren’t sitting on the bleachers underneath, you hung over the top of the railing,” Kalmi said.
“You were right in the game,” Warwas added.
Another liquidation sale is planned for Keewatin Elementary on Dec. 5, but Kalmi said the status of the sale is up in the air. Asbestos abatement is already underway, and everything that was not salvageable has already been torn out.
Megan Buffington joined the KAXE newsroom in 2024 after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Originally from Pequot Lakes, she is passionate about educating and empowering communities through local reporting.
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