KUAR Arkansas’s Amazing Place Names #36 Donaldson
In the 1870s, a Hot Spring County community formed and grew up around a railroad station and into the town of Donaldson. This small community boasts no fewer than three stories to explain its otherwise unremarkable name.
One story says that a nearby lumbermill owned by a Mr. Donaldson was the area’s primary employer and so gave its name to the town.
Story number two says that the son of a railroad executive named Donald opened a general store for the residents who referred to him simply as Donald’s Son.
The third tale suggests that the station and so the town were named for the son-in-law of the president of the Cairo & Fulton Railroad, which is certainly the least interesting and therefore the most likely of the stories. But so long as there is no solid evidence, partisans of each story can believe what they like.
Daniel Boice
University of Arkansas at Monticello