During the Colonial years, there was a small native population but only occasional hunters or lumbermen from Rowe, Charlemont or Heath using the town. The native population increased as they were pushed out of more desirable areas by increasing European populations but the limited access to Monroe and its limited resources for farming or water power production tended to slow its development by colonists.

The first permanent settlement appears to have been in 1800 but even by 1830, Monroe had only 265 people, the smallest population in the Connecticut Valley. Residents relied on a strictly agricultural economy and there was only one immigrant, an Irishman, listed in the census of the community in 1855. As late as 1879, Monroe had no formal churches, organized villages or mercantile businesses, but in 1887 there was an explosion of development in Monroe which included the establishment of the James Ramage Paper Company and the construction of the narrow-gauge Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington.

Monroe Mass is located in Northwestern Massachusetts, bordered by Readsboro, Vermont on the north; Rowe on the east; and Florida on the south and west. Monroe is 31 miles northwest of Greenfield, 126 miles northwest of Boston,