In Your Neighborhood
"Tobyhanna" is derived from a Native American word meaning, “A stream whose banks are fringed with alder.”
In the late 1800s, the Tobyhanna & Lehigh Lumber Company operated a lumber mill, clothespin factory, and silk mill in what was then called the Village of Tobyhanna Mills. In 1900, the area began transitioning from forest products to harvesting ice. A prominent resident of Coolbaugh Township purchased the entire village, consisting of over 30 dwellings and 120 acres of land. The Monroe Water Supply Company purchased over 32,000 acres of the lumber company’s property.
During this time, Tobyhanna lakes were part of an active ice industry. The ice was cut from the lakes during the winter and stored in large barn-like structures. During the rest of the year, the ice was added to railroad boxcars hauling fresh produce and meats destined for East Coast cities.
In the late 1800s, the Tobyhanna & Lehigh Lumber Company operated a lumber mill, clothespin factory, and silk mill in what was then called the Village of Tobyhanna Mills. In 1900, the area began transitioning from forest products to harvesting ice. A prominent resident of Coolbaugh Township purchased the entire village, consisting of over 30 dwellings and 120 acres of land. The Monroe Water Supply Company purchased over 32,000 acres of the lumber company’s property.
During this time, Tobyhanna lakes were part of an active ice industry. The ice was cut from the lakes during the winter and stored in large barn-like structures. During the rest of the year, the ice was added to railroad boxcars hauling fresh produce and meats destined for East Coast cities.
Tobyhanna Train Station
In 1912, Tobyhanna was home to the Tobyhanna train station. Adjacent to the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, the building remains in use today as the local historical society’s Rail Museum. In spring 2021, Amtrak announced plans for a potential New York-Scranton route.
Tobyhanna Army Depot
Tracing its roots back to 1912, the Tobyhanna Army Depot was the only location in the state of Pennsylvania where live cannon fire was permitted. In the early years as an artillery training ground, the site was also used for artillery training of West Point cadets, a tank and ambulance center during World War I, a World War II prisoner-of-war camp, and a storage point for gliders used in the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944. In 2013, Tobyhanna leveraged its extensive resources to become the Army’s depot source of repair for the Common Remotely
Operated Weapons Station, known as CROWS. A year later, the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy named Tobyhanna the depot source of repair for the Gray Eagle (MQ-1C) Unmanned Aircraft System Ground Control Stations.
Tobyhanna State Park
Tobyhanna State Park is located in the scenic Monroe and Wayne counties of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The 5,440-acre park includes the 170-acre Tobyhanna Lake. Visitors using more remote and undeveloped areas of Tobyhanna State Park should be aware that they could encounter old, unexploded artillery shells. Three types of shells have been found in the park, with the largest projectile measuring 18 to 24 inches in length and about six inches in diameter.
