Welcome to Donner ...
Donner is located in Placer County<1>.
The location of Donner has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>
While we don't have a date for the founding of Donner, you might consider that their post office opened in 1882.
Donner is 7,020 feet [2,140 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Donner is about 1¼ mile [or ~2¼ km] above sea level.
Time Zone: Donner lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time
Donner is located in the (530) area code.
Communities Also Named Donner ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two California communities named Donner: This one is located in Placer County and the other is located in Nevada County.
Beyond California, there are 3 communities that are also named Donner - they are located in Florida and Louisiana.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Donner.
Communities near Donner ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Donner.
- Truckee
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truckee
- Truckee is located in Nevada County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 16,982 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Truckee <4>
- Soda Springs
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Soda Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
- Soda Springs is located in Placer County
- Kingvale
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingvale
- Kingvale is located in Nevada County
- Prosser Lake Heights
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prosser Lake Heights
- Prosser Lake Heights is located in Nevada County
- Big Bend
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Bend
- Big Bend is located in Placer County
- Polaris
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east) - Meadow Lake ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Meadow Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lake
- Meadow Lake is located in Nevada County
- Summit City ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summit City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit City
- Summit City is located in Nevada County
- Baltimore Town
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Baltimore Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltimore Town
- Baltimore Town is located in Nevada County
- Carnelian Bay
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carnelian Bay
- Carnelian Bay is located in Placer County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carnelian Bay <4>
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Donner. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Donner.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Donner. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Donner.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Donner. See our Newspapers Page for Donner.
TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Donner ...
Looking for more information about Donner? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.
While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Donner, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Donner.
Adding Donner to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Donner in the GNIS. For more information, see the Referenced GNIS Codes section on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Donner was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>
From that list, the Donner post office opened in 1882.
We also found Donner on a map titled Map of the Lincoln Highway (1915-1916).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Donner.
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Donner. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Placer County: www.placer.ca.gov/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If you're interested in how the shape of California's counties, including Placer, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <2> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Donner - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |