[2] Donna is in southeastern Hidalgo County, 11 miles (18 km) east of McAllen, in territory that was granted to Lino Cabazos as part of the La Blanca land grant on May 19, 1834, by the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

The first known Anglo-American settler was John F. Webber, who, accompanied by his wife Sylvia (Hector), a former slave, settled in the area in 1839.

Thomas Jefferson Hooks arrived in the Lower Rio Grande valley in 1900 and the following year moved his family to Run in southeastern Hidalgo County.

In May 1902 he helped to form the La Blanca Agricultural Company, which purchased 23,000 acres (93 km2) fronting the river 2 miles (3 km) east and west of the site of present Donna and extending north 18 miles (29 km).

The Hidalgo and San Miguel Extension (later called the Sam Fordyce Branch) of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached the site in July 1904, when the town was founded.

That year the Community Church was constructed and shared by the town's Protestant groups.

Saint Joseph Catholic Church and a school for Mexican children were located there.

The election of 1954 drew attention to Donna when Bob Jefferys, a newspaperman, requested that a special contingent of Texas Rangers be sent to the city by Governor Allan Shivers.

He alleged that the election campaign was becoming violent because political bosses were physically threatening voters.

In 1967 Donna reported 110 businesses (including eight manufacturers), ten churches, a bank, a library, and a newspaper.

The justification for its operation was that migrant children needed more attention because of their parents' work.

There are five colonias immediately south of the Donna city limits off Farm-to-Market Road 493.

The southern boundary of Donna is a few miles north of the Rio Grande, the international border between the United States and Mexico.

[8] The city can be classified as a hot semiarid climate (Köppen: BSh) similar to that found in southwest Texas and northwest Mexico.

[14] The first teacher in Donna was Paciana Guerra of Mier, Tamaulipas, hired in 1911 by Severiano Avila, Apolonio Ballí, and Bentura Bentiz to instruct their children.

At that time, the Donna school district encompassed all of Weslaco and reached to the Mercedes corporate boundary.

In 2010–2012, Donna ISD received an $850,000 Connections Grant from the Texas Education Agency to provide technology staff development, as well as introduce a 1:1 laptop initiative to specific campuses.

In 1998, IDEA Academy & College Preparatory opened their doors in Donna as a public charter school.