A transforming substation built at Donald to provide 600-volt power to the Oregon Electric main line to Salem in 1907. In 1912, the voltage on the line was changed to 1200 volts to allow substations to be spaced further apart on the long run down to Eugene. The 600-volt rotary was removed from this substation and placed in the one at Moffatt on the Forest Grove branch, where it was placed in series with the rotary there to provide the required voltage. The abandoned substation then seems to have been used as part of a feed store, judging by the painted signs on its exterior.

The railway station and substation (and the town that grew up around them) were named after R. L. Donald, the chief engineer of the Oregon Electric when the line opened in 1907.