Organized in 1813, Upper Donaldson School operated as a grade school for 135 years. Its first teacher was Ephriam Cowand, whose salary was 4 barrels of corn and $2.00 per pupil. The school first met at Donaldson Creek Church 1½ mi west, then used a nearby log cabin from 1815 to 1910. A one-room concrete block structure was built in 1911 and remained in use until 1948, when the school consolidated. Six generations, beginning with the children of the first settlers in the Donaldson Creek Valley, received their primary education there, and many later entered careers in medicine, politics, religion, music, literature, education, agriculture, industry, and business.