Donald is an unincorporated community (nearly a ghost town) located in the town of Pershing, Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States,[1] where the Canadian National Railway crosses County Highway M.
Donald, Wisconsin | |
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  Donald, Wisconsin  Donald, Wisconsin | |
| Coordinates: 45°15′09″N 90°53′49″W / 45.25250°N 90.89694°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Wisconsin |
| County | Taylor |
| Elevation | 366 m (1,201 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code(s) | 715 & 534 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1564049[1] |
History
editDonald was founded in 1903,[2] where the Fountain-Campbell Lumber Company built a sawmill on the Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and Northeastern Railway (a.k.a. the Omaha).[3] The community was named for Donald Campbell, the son of the president of Fountain-Campbell. Before that, the spot was called Fountain Spur, for the other principal of that company.[2]
Donald had a boarding house for sawmill workers.[4] A post office was established in 1904.[5] Around 1905 the J.S. Owen Company built a line for the Wisconsin Central Railway crossing the Omaha line at Donald and heading northwest for Superior - now part of the Canadian National Railway.[6] At some point, the Omaha RR set up a box car as Donald's depot.[4] Donald grew to boast a school and a church.[7]
But after the timber near Donald was depleted around 1916, Fountain-Campbell shut down their sawmill there and moved it north of Ladysmith to Crane, where timber remained.[8] With that, Donald began to dwindle. The Omaha Railroad stopped running in the late 1930s and track was pulled up.[9] The post office closed in 1942.[5] As of 2023, only a few homes and the Canadian National remained.
Notes
edit- ^ a b "Donald, Wisconsin". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ a b Chicago and North Western Railway Company (1908). A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. p. 173.
- ^ Rosholt, Malcolm (1982). Lumbermen on the Chippewa. Rosholt, Wisc.: Rosholt House. p. 250.
- ^ a b Colby, Arlyn (2018). The Cornell Line - The History of the Omaha Railway's Branch Line through Cornell. pp. 77–78.
- ^ a b "Taylor County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Rusch, Robert P. (September 22, 2013). "The Twelve Railroads of Taylor County, Wisconsin". In Kalmon, Lars (ed.). Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - volume 2. Taylor County History Project. p. 15.
- ^ "St. Joseph's Catholic Parish". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
- ^ Brown, R.C. (Doc) (1982). Logging Railroads of Rusk County, Wisconsin. p. 42.
- ^ Rusch, Robert P. (September 22, 2013). "The Twelve Railroads of Taylor County, Wisconsin". In Kalmon, Lars (ed.). Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - volume 2. Taylor County History Project. p. 14.
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