From 1900 to 1936, Tobyhanna Lake and nearby lakes at
Gouldsboro and
Klondike were used for ice collection and storage, producing up to 150
boxcar loads per day between them, which were shipped as far as
Florida. In 1912, Tobyhanna had a railway station, telegraph, and post office. At that time, the U.S. Army had no
artillery training range east of Wisconsin.
Major Charles P. Summerall, commander of the 3rd Field Artillery at
Fort Myer, Virginia, chose the site as a training range. After leasing land for $300 in 1912 and 1913, Summerall persuaded Congress to authorize the purchase of 18,000 acres (73 km2) for $50,000. The military reservation was later expanded to 22,000 acres (89 km2) according to the Tobyhanna Army Depot, or 26,000 acres (105 km2) according to
Pennsylvania DCNR. The land was used as a
tank and
ambulance corps training center from 1914 to 1918, for artillery training from 1918 to 1931 and 1937 to 1941, and to house
Civilian Conservation Corps enrolled from 1931 to 1937. During
World War II, initial plans for using the site for
anti-aircraft artillery training were dropped due to the long range of more modern weapons. Some shells strayed onto private land, and the
Scranton Times reported that crews could only fire one or two shells during each pass of a target, with guns limited to a 65-degree firing arc". The camp subsequently became the base of a segregated all-black ambulance corps, and a
military hospital consisting of 19 single-story structures was constructed in anticipation of casualties from the planned invasion of Japan. At the end of World War II, the military reservation became one of 138 sites around the United States holding German
prisoners of war, with a maximum of 300 POWs. It was also used to store gliders used in the
D-Day invasion. From 1946 to 1948, it was used by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In April 1949, most of the military reservation was returned to Pennsylvania, and converted into
Game Land 127,
Gouldsboro State Park, and
Tobyhanna State Park. However, 1,400 acres (5.7 km2), after briefly being transferred to Pennsylvania, were reacquired by the
Army Signal Corps in 1951 as the Tobyhanna Army Depot. The site was chosen for its access to
East Coast shipping and proximity to manufacturers, while remaining outside potential
nuclear blast zones surrounding
New York City and
Scranton. At that time, the decline of
anthracite coal mining in the region had led to the unemployment of 35,000 workers. Two years before its opening, the Depot received 600 job applications per day. It became the largest industrial employer in northeastern Pennsylvania. In late 2016, the depot began using an
anechoic chamber to test radars by simulating signals and targets. The chamber allowed testing to occur on-site rather than shipping systems to the
Yuma Proving Ground, reducing costs. On September 29, 2020, Senate Builders & Construction Managers Inc. was contracted to upgrade and renovate Building 1E at the Depot. ==References==