Craig Beach Village is an incorporated municipality located in Mahoning County, Ohio. The village has a total area of 1.7 square miles, of which, 0.9 square miles (55.03%) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (44.97%) of it is water. Craig Beach Village along with Milton Township are known as the community of Lake Milton which is also an Ohio State Park. Craig Beach borders the lake on the northwest corner and includes the area known as the swim beach, the Lake Milton Dam, a boat ramp at Robinson Point, a large picnic/recreation area, a children's playground, basketball and volleyball courts, a section of the walking path, and the newest addition to the area the Lake Milton Nature Arts amphitheatre.
The City of Youngstown in the early 1900's used the Mahoning River as both an industrial and domestic water supply. However around 1906 the city started experiencing water shortages. They decided to create a reservoir upstream thus enabling them to have some control over the flow of the Mahoning River. Between 1911 and 1913, Youngstown was able to acquire 3,416 acres that would eventually become Lake Milton. The building of Milton Dam began in 1913 and was completed in 1917. The construction cost the city $787,000 to create the 1,685 acre lake. The venture worked for Youngstown until 1925 when the water of the Mahoning River was labeled as unsafe for human consumption. Youngstown started to plan the building of a new domestic water supply. This became the Meander Reservoir. The Lake Milton Dam still had an important job to do as it still controled the flow of water to the vast industrial complexes downstream. In 1931 a group decided to form a municipality that would become known as Craig Beach Village. During WWII a guard was posted at the dam to insure our nations steel production was not interrupted. Over the next 40 years the United States Army Corp of Engineers and later the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) oversaw inspections and upgrades were made to the dam as deemed necessary to insure its stabilization. In 1984 there was little doubt the dam was failing. The dam was breached in 1986 and a lush green growth began to fill its bed. Youngstown relinquished control of the dam to the ODNR. They began construction of a new dam that was completed in 1988. Lake Milton was officially named Ohio's 72nd State Park in June of 1988.