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History · Donnelly

Donnelly’s post office opened in 1914, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Donnelly was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Its Register listings are the John Korvola Homestead and the Jacob and Herman Mahala Homestead. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1960.

1914first post office
2on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Donnelly began

When was Donnelly founded?

1914

The Donnelly post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 161 in 19602020 census: 249112 years
Founding year: the first Donnelly post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Donnelly’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Donnelly are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Donnelly’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Donnelly’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Donnelly, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Donnelly yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Donnelly is a city in rural Valley County, Idaho, United States. As of the 2020 census, Donnelly had a population of 249. Donnelly is in the Long Valley of Valley County, on the northeast shore of Lake Cascade (Cascade Reservoir), between the two major cities in the county. McCall is 13 miles (21 km) north, and Cascade is 16 miles (26 km) to the south, via Highway 55. Tamarack Resort is across the reservoir to the southwest. The City of Donnelly, named after a prominent railroad man, was incorporated in 1914. Donnelly is the world headquarters of the celebrated Donnelly Show Ski Team which was established in 2008.

Its first post office opened in 1914. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 152 to 249 (+64%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Donnelly, decade by decade

Today1 recent
IDMap-doton-Donnelly2004IDMap-doton-Donnelly
On the map

Donnelly on the map, 1954 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Donnelly. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Donnelly on the 1954 USGS mapDonnelly on the 1985 USGS map1954Cascade sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Donnelly.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Donnelly

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
John Korvola Homestead
John Korvola Homestead
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Finnish Log Cabin2
John Korvola HomesteadFinnish Log Cabin
All 2 listings
Jacob and Herman Mahala HomesteadBuilding · listed 1982

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Donnelly, census by census

01002001960198020002020Peak: 249

Between 114 and 249 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Donnelly’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Donnelly

Nobody well known was born in Donnelly itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
James RainwaterAmerican physicist · b. 1917
Larry CraigAmerican politician · b. 1945
S
Scott PattersonAmerican cross-country skier · b. 1992
C
Caitlin PattersonAmerican cross-country skier · b. 1990
Herman WelkerAmerican politician · b. 1906
Matt ParadisAmerican football player · b. 1989

Questions about Donnelly’s history

What year was Donnelly founded?

The Donnelly post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Donnelly?

Two places: the John Korvola Homestead (listed 1982) and the Jacob and Herman Mahala Homestead (1982).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.