DULUTH — When Goodman Auditorium opened at Virginia High School — decades before it was named for the school doctor and his arts aficionado wife — the 1,500-seat performance venue was celebrated for its genuine Hartford-Saxony carpeting, the chandeliers with easy-to-replace bulbs, and its 50,000 cubic feet of fresh air.

"The decoration was done by artists in Chicago," reads a program from the first concert held there in May 1920. "The colors are not gaudy but harmonious and in good taste."

The venue that has been likened to a mini Carnegie Hall hosts its final concert, "A Farewell to Goodman Auditorium" at 7 p.m. Saturday. The performance will feature community vocal groups, alumni and student musicians and the world premiere of René Clausen's four-movement symphony "Mesabi: The Sleeping Giant," inspired by Iron Range history — from glaciers to immigration to mining.

Bassoon player Mary Peterson, who has played with the Mesabi Symphony Orchestra since its founding in the 1970s — aside from a five-year hiatus when she had a young child — can vouch for the power of the new piece based on rehearsals.

"The music moved me to tears," she said.

Beyond Sheila Wilcox's work as the school district's orchestra director, the space holds personal memories. Her sons are among the many musical theater students who have signed a wall backstage after a performance. But after 100 years, the sound is unpredictable, the lights don't always work, and there are obstructed sight lines and plumbing issues, she said.

"It will be closure for our community," Wilcox said of the final performance. "We're looking forward to the future."

The future is Rock Ridge, a school district that merges students from Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia into two new elementary schools, one that is active and another that will open in 2024. The students will shift to the new high school at the start of the 2023-24 school year. Its new auditorium has features that surpass those of the aged Goodman. An acoustician was hired to consult on the project, Wilcox said.

Goodman Auditorium has been a home venue for countless student productions, the Mesabi Symphony Orchestra, Arrowhead Concert Association and more. World-renowned American pianist Van Cliburn, violinist Isaac Stern, the Western singing group Sons of the Pioneers, the real von Trapp children, and bass-baritone Spiro Malas are among the artists who have performed on its stage.

The old high school, including Goodman Auditorium, is scheduled to be razed later this year. If Virginia High School alum Mark Eskola has his way, at least a part of it will live on. The retired orchestra director, who worked briefly at his alma mater and finished his career at Duluth East, is part of a rehabilitation project at West Duluth's Alhambra Theater, an old vaudeville stage.

While playing cello at Goodman Auditorium recently, Eskola noticed the fruit-and-vine plaster around the proscenium stage. He's hoping to include that in his construction project and has emailed the school district's superintendent.

"I think it's fun to keep the legacy of the Goodman Auditorium," he said.