Miller Beach borders Lake Michigan to the north, Porter County to the east, and is largely surrounded by protected lands, including Indiana Dunes National Park.

All property in Inland Manor has been acquired by the US government to become part of the National Park, however many residents remain in their homes under reservation of use and occupancy agreements.

The Potawatomi frequently came into the areas now within the Indiana Dunes National lakeshore to hunt, fish and gather food including wild rice.

[23] French missionary Father Jacques Marquette passed along the south shore of Lake Michigan in 1675, attempting to return to Canada after he had fallen gravely ill on the Mississippi River.

[28][29] As white settlement spread across the Upper Midwest in the 19th century, many promoters and speculators sought to attract settlers and commercial development to the Calumet Region, but were defeated by the difficult terrain and lack of transportation.

[29] In 1833, an inn called the Bennett Tavern was built at the mouth of the Grand Calumet River, serving the Detroit-Chicago stagecoaches that ran along the shoreline.

[33] Swedes began to migrate to the United States in large numbers in the 1860s as a result of the famines in Scandinavia, and some of these immigrants settled in Miller.

[11][40] Among these were films by the Selig Polyscope Company,[41] and the Chicago Essanay Studios productions The Plum Tree (1914)[42] and The Fall of Montezuma (1912), in which the Miller beach represented the coast of Mexico.

[40] Millerites rallied to incorporate their community as the Town of Miller in 1907, hoping to prevent annexation by Gary following the founding of that then booming city in 1906.

[43] Gary mayor Thomas Knotts first attempted to annex Miller in 1910 as part of a larger territorial dispute with East Chicago.

[47] With attractions including a shooting gallery, bath house, miniature railroad and "night spots", Carr's Beach was Gary's most popular summer destination in the late 1920s.

[47] With the construction and expansion of Marquette Park in the 1930s, and an influx of affluent residents from other parts of Gary in the late 1940s, the neighborhood became increasingly a resort community.

[51] Unlike similar groups elsewhere in the city, the goal of the MCC was not to prevent integration, but to slow the process so that events did not spiral out of control.

[52] The MCC worked to stem flight from the community with techniques including positive publicity about Miller's advantages, and banning "For Sale" signs.

Unlike other Gary neighborhoods that saw abrupt white flight and economic dislocation during this period, Miller Beach underwent a stable and peaceful transition through the 1970s to an integrated population with most of the new African-American residents being "upwardly mobile"[63] black professionals.

Miller's many new residents included author Nelson Algren, who bought a house on the East Lagoon with the proceeds from the Pulitzer Prize and The Man With the Golden Arm.

[69] The freshwater panne habitat, found at Miller Woods and West Beach, is considered globally imperiled by the Nature Conservancy.

[73] This varied landscape of dunes and wetlands is the legacy of fluctuations in Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River since the last ice age.

The Wisconsinan glaciation ended in the Miller Beach area around 18,000 years ago,[75] forming Glacial Lake Chicago as the glaciers melted.

[76] After the glaciers retreated, factors including isostatic rebound of the earth's crust led to a series of different lake levels, each of which left a mark on the landscape.

[79] Indiana Dunes National Park, which includes large areas in and around Miller Beach, is a place of extremely high biodiversity.

[86] A wide range of species of wild mammals inhabit the natural areas of Miller Beach, including the Virginia opossum,[87] prairie deer mouse,[87] fox squirrel,[87] and beaver.

[81] Although no definitive survey of local bats has been conducted,[89] several species are believed to be present in the area, including the endangered Indiana myotis.

[93] In particular, the neighborhood's beachfront is known as one of the best areas in the Midwest for observing jaegers during their autumn migration,[92] and also lies under a spring flyway of the sandhill crane.

[99] "Where else could you catch salmon or trout in the morning, be in easy access to your metropolitan office, attend a major league game in the afternoon, and still enjoy a dinner with the family in a home near the big water or nestled in the wooded dunes?"

Founded to help prevent white flight and disruption during the sudden changes of the 1970s, the MCC quickly expanded into other ways of promoting community stability, including through environmental preservation and zoning ordinances.

Begun in 2008 and now sponsored by the Miller Beach Arts and Creative District, the Farmers' Market seeks to promote a sustainable local economy and allow residents access to high-quality, fresh produce and gourmet foodstuffs.

[130] At the Metro Center, passengers can transfer to buses serving other parts of Gary and towns as distant as Hammond and Crown Point.

[citation needed] The Gary Green Links plan calls for additional trails and bikeways connecting Miller Beach to other towns and neighborhoods.

As of 2011, a US$28 million project to improve Marquette Park was underway, funded by a grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.