Monroe is in a hilly and remote corner of western Massachusetts, and is the westernmost town of Franklin County. It was formed from “The Gore,” a tract of the town of Rowe lying west of the Deerfield River. The land remained uninhabited by settlers of European descent until around 1800; over the next generation, a small number of settlers trickled in. In 1820, nineteen landowners petitioned the General Court in Boston to separate The Gore from Rowe due to difficulties in reaching the town center over the swift-flowing river. The petition was granted in 1822, and the town was named after President James Monroe who was in office at the time. Over the next half-century Monroe remained almost entirely agricultural. In 1875, with the completion of the nearby Hoosac Tunnel (a railroad tunnel nearly five miles long), Monroe saw some industrial development. In 1885, four brothers (Daniel, James, John, and Moses Newton) built a railroad along the Deerfield River, connecting Monroe with the Troy & Greenfield line. The next year, the Deerfield River Railroad became the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington (Vermont) Railroad. The railroad drew the James Ramage Paper Company, which located at the Monroe Bridge connecting Monroe and Rowe. The company eventually became Deerfield Specialty Papers, which closed in 1984. Soon after, the railroad shut down. Monroe reached its population peak in 1840 with 282 residents. By 1980 the population was 179, and it had fallen to 121 by the year 2000. With an average of 10.7 persons per square mile, Monroe is one of the most sparsely populated areas of the state.