The Miller brothers, Franklin and his younger brother Rufus, were part of the Miller family from Easton, Pennsylvania. Younger brother Rufus struck out on a religious career as a minister, and Franklin (Frank) had other ideas. Bigger ideas. Ideas that would lead he and his brother to the nearby Pocono Mountains in search of opportunity. This is one of those stories.
The series I’ve been researching began as an effort to rebuild my youthful memories of growing up on Lake Naomi in the Poconos starting in the 1960s. As the stories came together, I wanted to start an oline dialog with others who might remember or are making their memories right now. We created an associated Facebook Group, called Lake Naomi Memories, for anyone to share their memories that help create a digital history footprint on the web. Oh, and they’ll certainly help me remember as well. Link below – enjoy the series!
By the turn of the 20th century, ice was in high demand in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, and the brothers saw an opportunity. In the early 1890s, they formed the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company. Their plan was ambitious: dam the stream to create a massive artificial lake, both as a reliable water source and as a giant ice field. The damming flooded a broad valley and created the body of water that would eventually fill and become Lake Naomi.
Historical Marker – Lake Naomi
ICE HARVESTING INDUSTRY
Ice was harvested on local lakes from 1896 thru the 1940s. Vast icehouses insulated with sawdust at Naomi Lake, Pocono Lake, Stillwater Lake, Anglewood Lake and Brady’s Lake kept tons of ice frozen through summer. Blocks of ice were shipped by rail to major cities and points south. Jobs such as chunk boy and scraper were among those offered by the industry until electric refrigeration ended the era.
The Hackenberg, Erlsten & Fischer Families in honor of Robert & Shirley Fischer
Once the lake was in place, the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company ran as a major operation. In winter, crews harvested huge blocks of crystal-clear ice from the frozen surface, using horse-drawn saws, ice plows, and tongs. The ice was stored in massive, insulated icehouses along the shore and shipped out by rail via the nearby Wilkes-Barre & Eastern Railroad line. Franklin handled much of the business leadership, while Rufus worked hands-on in the harvesting and logistics.
The lake they built for industry would, decades later, become the recreational jewel of the Poconos, but for the Miller brothers in their day, it was first and foremost a source of livelihood, created by their own initiative and hard work.
1893 – 1895 – The Pocono Spring Water Ice Company
After the Miller Brothers secured a 99-year lease to use the water and dam for ice cutting, storing, and recreational purposes, the Miller brother’s company charter specified it was established for “pleasure, boating, skating, fishing and the cutting, storing and selling of ice,” highlighting that ice harvesting was a central part of its purpose from the very beginning.
In October 1893, community leaders came together to organize what would become the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company, a business created to take advantage of the region’s natural resources and the growing demand for ice. Two years later, on September 4, 1895, the group formally submitted an application to the State of Pennsylvania to incorporate the company with a capital stock of $100,000, divided into $10 shares. The incorporation was certified on October 7, 1895, and officially recorded in Monroe County a month later, on November 6, 1895.
The largest shareholder was Frank C. Miller of Easton, Pennsylvania, who held 400 shares. Other investors included Rufus W. Miller of Reading with 20 shares; Rachel Bonser of Naomi Pines Post Office with 5 shares; and several members of the Hay family from Houser Mills, Samuel and Charles Hay, each holding 20 shares. Additional shareholders were J. G. Hirsh of East Greenville; A. Stahl of Hirenback in Lehigh County; and A. E. Shubert of Houser Mills, who collectively held 150 shares.
The first directors of the company were Frank C. Miller, Rufus W. Miller, A. E. Shubert, Samuel Hay, and Charles Hay. Charles Hay, who signed with a simple “X,” had his mark witnessed by Elmer Fox and Amos Bonser. At the time of incorporation, ten percent of the company’s stock had already been paid in, with Frank C. Miller serving as treasurer. This incorporation not only reflects the rise of the ice industry in the Poconos at the end of the 19th century but also shows how families and local business leaders, often connected by ties of kinship and community, came together to build enterprises that shaped the region’s economic growth.
Franklin and Rufus Miller completed their first dam across Tunkhannock Creek, creating what would become Naomi Lake. They would build the first icehouses along its shore, I think five to start, with Winter harvesting beginning almost immediately. Ice blocks were cut by hand saws and stored in insulated wooden structures packed with sawdust. Based on research, I believe Lake Naomi is the only lake in the Poconos specifically created for ice harvesting. We’ll keep digging.
With the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company being established, they were not alone. A competitive industrial push brought in lots of outside capital: investors from Easton organized the nearby Pocono Ice Company in 1893 with a huge 104,000-ton icehouse, eventually operating plants to support ice demands in the New York and Philadelphia markets. The Miller Brothers had joined a highly competitive business, as the Pocono Mountains were home to numerous companies vying to provide products to suburban markets.
It stood along the railroad spur so harvested ice could be loaded directly onto railcars. Contemporary sources and Sanborn-style descriptions indicate it was a three-story, timber-frame building, insulated with sawdust, and capable of holding tens of thousands of tons of ice at once. At full capacity, the Miller icehouse could store an entire winter’s harvest, enough to supply city markets well into the summer.
While exact measurements aren’t often printed, facilities of this scale in Pennsylvania typically ran 150 to 200 feet long, 50 to 75 feet wide, and over 30 feet high, with multiple internal storage bays. The Miller’s icehouse likely fit those dimensions, giving it a footprint of more than 10,000 square feet and a total interior volume large enough to hold 30,000–40,000 tons of ice in stacked blocks.
The Millers helped create the physical lake and early business, but Monroe County’s ice trade quickly became a multi-company, multi-lake industry, with heavyweight operators, namely the Pocono Ice Company and the American Ice Company, and a host of regional firms harvesting at Saylors, Stillwater, Trout, Pocono Lake, and Mountain Springs, until home refrigeration systekms ultimately killing the market in the 1930s. At the time, 19 lakes in Monroe County were in the ice harvesting business.
After the Millers and others dammed tributaries for ice harvesting, a major lawsuit emerged in 1900. The lawsuit centered on control of water, first, in the Lehigh River and its tributaries. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which depended on steady river flow to power industries in the Lehigh Valley, sought to stop ice companies in the Poconos, particularly the American Ice Company and the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company from building dams and pools to harvest ice. Lehigh argued that these impoundments reduced the natural flow of water, especially critical during a drought, and harmed its operations.
The courts issued injunctions against the ice companies, but the American Ice Company initially ignored them, leading to contempt proceedings. The defense argued that American Ice was merely a lessee and that the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company was the true owner of the dams. Ultimately, the case became a battle over whether private companies had the right to obstruct rivers for ice-making at the expense of navigation and industrial power needs.
Ultimately, the suit was lost, and the injunction was rejected. As a result, other ice harvesting companies, including Lake Naomi and Stillwater Lakes, were allowed to proceed, and they did big time!
The Miller’s business grew steadily. When the train was completed, the Wilkes-Barre & Eastern Railroad provided the Millers a direct shipping route to urban markets. Ice was loaded onto railcars and shipped to Philadelphia, Newark, and New York City. Quicky, the company earned a reputation for exceptionally clean, “spring water” ice
At the Pocono lake itself, beyond the Millers’ Pocono Spring Water Ice Company, the American Ice Company maintained large icehouses, about 57,000 tons on Naomi’s shore, showing that national players had a footprint right alongside the Millers. After the 1903 sheriff’s sale of the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company’s property, other interests stepped in; a federal court record documents that sale and the transition of those assets, underscoring how fluid ownership was during the shake-out years.
1906–1915
Peak production years. The icehouses are expanded, and crews of 50+ workers harvest each winter. Horses pull plows across the frozen lake to score blocks before cutting. Some winters see 20,000+ tons of ice stored. The business becomes one of the area’s largest employers.
In 1899, the company leased its facilities to the American Ice Company of New York, a major player in the industry. The arrangement, however, proved disastrous. The lessee failed to meet its rental and contractual obligations, and the limited payments that were recovered came only through costly legal and administrative effort. Financial strain deepened, and a mortgage was eventually placed on the company’s property.
The crisis came to a head when the property was foreclosed and sold on April 4, 1903. In a remarkable show of commitment, the original stockholders—save for those holding about 100 shares, agreed to subscribe to 50 percent of the par value of their original holdings to repurchase the plant. This led to the formation of a new corporation, the Pocono Pines Ice Company, on June 26, 1903. The reorganized company leased its operation to the Mountain Ice Company, which restored profitability for several years.
The Pocono Pines Ice Company of Zastori succeeded the Pocono Spring Water Ice Company after purchasing ,000 of the Miller’s property at a sheriff’s sale. On March 18, 1912, the restructured Pocono Pines Ice Co, which had been reorganized from the original Miller Pocono Spring Ice Water Company resold land back to Frank C. Miller, amounting to 108 acres, which included the yellow boarding house. The land extending along both sides of the Tunkhannock Creek from a short distance, what is now Stillwater Lake, and westward and northward to the Tobyhanna Creek. Included in the 3,100 acres were two warrants from the State of Pennsylvania in his own name, certified in 1901.
Ice houses built on the shore held 60,000 tons of ice. The monolithic ice trust, the American Ice Company, which had leased the Miller’s plant in 1900 and made plans to expand the facility, but later defaulted on payments, caused legal and financial problems for a few years. But in ordinary winters, Lake Naomi could be expected to yield between 400,000 and 500,000 tons of good ice. Plans were made to add a connection to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. The company placed contracts for two hundred refrigerator cars to carry ice to New Jersey and Pennsylvania cities.
That success ended abruptly on October 26, 1908. At 11 o’clock in the morning, during the fall hunting season, a violent thunderstorm swept across Naomi Lake. Lightning struck the massive ice houses, igniting a fire that consumed the structures in just fifteen minutes. The loss was total, and the ice houses were never rebuilt.
Still, the industry adapted. Mountain Ice Company continued to cut and ship ice directly from the lake to railcars, a practice that lasted into the early 1920s. But the age of natural ice was coming to a close. Artificial ice-making technology made large-scale harvesting unprofitable, and operations were eventually abandoned.
In the wake of the industry’s collapse, Frank Miller, mindful of the financial losses borne by some of the stockholders, extended a gesture of goodwill—gifting a parcel of land to each of the two children of those most affected. It was a final act in a chapter that had once promised prosperity but instead became a testament to both the fragility of industry and the resilience of community.
Below Lake Naomi on the Tunkhannock Creek, ice was also being cut on Pocono Lake in 1900 by the Pocono Lake Ice Company of Easton, which included Isaac Stauffer among its stockholders. The Pocono Ice Company would become part of the Mountain Ice Company in 1902.
So you have competition, and that’s hard enough. By 1914, 26 million tons of artificial ice were being produced compared to 24 million tons of naturally harvested ice. There was a similar trend around the world, making it increasingly unprofitable to export ice from the United States. Concerns grew over the sanitary safety of natural ice from polluted lakes and rivers. It was called the “Ice Famine”, also known as global warming, in 1910-1920.
1916–1920
The company modernizes slightly with conveyor belts powered by steam or gasoline engines to move ice from the lake to the icehouse. World War I increases demand as cities struggle to supply ice for food preservation.
1921–1925
Signs of change appear: mechanical refrigeration begins to take hold in urban cold storage warehouses, reducing wholesale natural ice prices. The Millers still profit thanks to a loyal customer base, but profits are under pressure.
1926–1929
Decline accelerates. Home refrigeration units start appearing in middle-class households. The once-profitable ice shipping contracts begin to vanish. Some icehouses are dismantled or repurposed for local use.
1930–1933
The Great Depression, combined with the full adoption of artificial ice and refrigeration, ended the commercial viability of natural ice harvesting. The last large-scale harvest occurred around 1932–1933. The remaining equipment and buildings are left to decay or are dismantled.
Franklin and Rufus Miller’s ice era at Lake Naomi lasted a little under four decades. From the moment they dammed Tunkhannock Creek in 1895 to form the lake for their Pocono Spring Water Ice Company, business boomed each winter. For years, the frozen lake produced thousands of tons of clean, clear ice shipped to cities by rail.
But by the 1920s, the industry was on borrowed time. The twin blows of mechanical refrigeration and milder winters steadily eroded the market. Refrigerators and ice plants could produce ice year-round, closer to where it was needed, making the labor-intensive harvest from a frozen lake less profitable. At the same time, the Great Depression cut demand even further, and icehouses once brimming with blocks stood partly empty.
The last significant ice harvest on Lake Naomi came around 1933, marking the quiet end of the Millers’ original enterprise. In all, their operation spanned about 38 years, transforming the local economy, reshaping the landscape, and leaving behind the lake that would later become a recreational centerpiece of the Poconos.
The Millers started with their father, Thomas Thompson Miller’s ~550 acres in 1882. Over the years, Franklin and Rufus strategically bought up adjoining parcels along Tunkhannock Creek, the surrounding forests, and parts of what would become the shoreline of Lake Naomi. They needed this land not just for the lake itself, but for the dam site, icehouses, rail sidings, and the watershed that kept the water supply clean for the ice business. Owning the surrounding acreage also prevented competitors from setting up rival ice operations.
By the time Franklin’s daughter inherited the property, the holdings had grown to a vast 2,760 acres, essentially controlling the lake and much of the surrounding landscape. In 1963, she sold the entire tract to developer Logan Steele, which kicked off the transformation of Lake Naomi from an industrial ice-harvesting lake into the private residential and recreational community we know today.
The Tobyhanna Ice Harvest, held each January at Millpond #1 in Tobyhanna, PA, is a living history event that recreates the early-1900s tradition of cutting, hauling, and storing massive ice blocks before the age of refrigeration. Since its inception in 1994 for Coolbaugh Township’s bicentennial, the event has evolved into a popular community gathering. Visitors enjoy using vintage tools, assist in cutting 200–300 lb ice blocks, watch them being hauled up ramps into the icehouse, and warm up by a bonfire or inside the Wills Mansion Museum. Drawing hundreds of attendees each year, the free event offers both hands-on fun and an immersive glimpse into the region’s industrial past. The event is typically held on the last Saturday in January, weather permitting.
The name “Naomi” in the Pocono region traces back to Thomas Thompson Miller, who, in the late 19th century, purchased his first 500 acres in the area to protect them from the rampant clear-cut lumbering of the time. Seeking to preserve the peace and natural beauty of the towering pine forests for his family and future generations, he named the area Naomi Pines, drawing inspiration from the Biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. In that story, Ruth’s loyalty brings comfort and peace to Naomi — a sentiment Thomas felt mirrored the tranquility the pine forests brought to him and his sons, Frank and Rufus.
That connection to the name “Naomi” became even more personal when Thomas’s son, Franklin Comfort Miller, welcomed a daughter, Irene Emma Naomi Miller, on July 21, 1891, four years before building a dam that would form Naomi Lake in 1895. The lake’s name carried forward both the family tradition and the Biblical symbolism. In the years that followed, Franklin’s brother Rufus helped bring the first post office to the community, renaming the area Pocono Pines to emphasize its place in the broader Poconos region. Thus, Naomi Pines became Lake Naomi at Pocono Pines, with its name rooted in a blend of family heritage, Biblical meaning, and the Millers’ vision for a peaceful retreat.
Here’s what happened to the American Ice Company plant in Baltimore, MD
Start your experience with a live look at the Club Beach at Lake Naomi – Livecam Click Here
North Beach View – Click Here
I decided to write these stories down because a friend of mine, with whom I grew up, now lives on Lake Naomi and still sends me photos of the Lake Naomi Club trophy case, where my name, along with my father’s and brothers’, lives on (Thanks, Sue). Thank you for allowing me to document this life experience for the record.
Brooks founded Mr. Local History and the Mr. Local History Project along with his wife, Jill. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in Westfield, Brooks graduated from Westfield High School in 1980 and later from Bryant University. For over two decades, Brooks, along with his brother Brian and younger sister Cee Cee, spent their summers on Lake Naomi with their parents, Frank and Caryolyn Betz, who had lived on Canoe Brook Road since the mid-1960s.
He and his family owned the Pocono Boathouse (Pocono Pines, PA) and the Cranford Canoe Club in the 1960s through the 1990s.
There are likely many gaps in the history that I hope to fill, along with a return visit to Lake Naomi to reminisce and reflect on these stories. This story is part of a series dedicated to the history of Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines, and the memories of my family spending time together. Thanks for reading.
One thing is for sure: You can guarantee that each of these businesses in New…
Sneak Preview: If you got the word, you get the head start on the End…
The Jacobus Vanderveer House in Bedminster, New Jersey, is celebrating Colonial Christmas, an annual fundraiser…
The town of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, welcomes its annual Christmas Eve Sing on The…
On November 15, 2025, Peapack and Gladstone opened its doors to the past as visitors…
Jersey is all we do. We make each of these collectibles to promote New Jersey…
This website uses cookies.
