Most of Donald was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: maps from 1923 on and the census since 1920.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1910.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Donald’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Donald is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Donald’s overall grade.
Oregon towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oregon town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Donald’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 points). Two sources give 1908.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Donald’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Donald has a rich history in agriculture, industry, business and family. Sometime between 1840 and 1860 Donald was settled by farmers and loggers from the Midwest. By the early 1900s, Donald was a main station for the Oregon Electric Railway, which connected Portland and Eugene. The city was named after R. L. Donald, an engineer for the construction company that built the railway. Donald was built from Donation Land Claims sold by R. L. Donald to the Donald Town Lot and Land Company in 1908. The original community was centered on agricultural land growing hops. The town grew primarily on the hop crop until the Oregon Electric Railway located a substation and depot in Donald. It was part of the railway mainline between Salem and Portland. The substation was completed in 1906. The post office was established April 13, 1910, and the town was home to the Donald Brick and Tile works from 191…
In 1908, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Donald’s post office opened in 1910, and the census of 1920 counted 126 people here.
How does Donald rank for history?
Donald is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Donald?
3% of Donald’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 2000.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, 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.
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