The community of Tahoe Donner is located on over 7000 acres of land, with 6500 homes and 25,000 members. It has a downhill and cross-country ski area, golf course, several restaurants, fitness center, swimming pool, tennis courts, sledding hill, and thousands of acres of open space for hiking and mountain biking, including a connection to the Donner Lake Rim Trail. How did this immense development, one of the largest in the country, come to be just a few miles outside of little old Truckee, California? It all started with Jack Kirby.
In his 2006 book, “Jack Kirby: Autobiography of a California entrepreneur,” Kirby talks about selling newspapers as a kid before becoming a pilot for the Navy during World War II. After the war he became a football star for USC before going on to play in the National Football League. After his career in the NFL, Kirby purchased 4000 acres of land north of Truckee in 1968.
Although the land which would become Tahoe Donner had recently been the victim of a major forest fire, Kirby was impressed by it’s potential for development. He thought it was rare to find this large a parcel of land in the middle of the beauty of the Sierra that had gentle enough contours to create a development. Kirby also purchased a five acre parcel on the shore of Donner Lake, which could be used to provide access to the lake for Tahoe Donner homeowners. He hired a ski development expert to determine if a ski area could be built on the burned out slopes of the current ski hill, and by 1971 people began buying Tahoe Donner lots for $8000. Kirby said, “I figured if I could develop a resort that was completely different-that offered something to homebuyers, second homeowners and retired people-it would be saleable.”
Looking towards Tahoe Donner ski hill
After developing Tahoe Donner, Kirby went on to develop the Alta Sierra community near Grass Valley, before turning his entrepreneurial mind to the manufacture of golf clubs. In 2006, he told the Sierra Sun about Tahoe Donner that he was “very proud of what we’ve done here. I think it’s turned out to be a great community development.”
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 