Donald, Wisconsin

Unincorporated community in Wisconsin, United States

45°15′09″N 90°53′49″W / 45.25250°N 90.89694°W / 45.25250; -90.89694Country

United StatesState

WisconsinCountyTaylorElevation

366 m (1,201 ft)Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)Area code(s)715 & 534GNIS feature ID1564049^[1]

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.

History

Donald 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

^ ^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.