Rowe was settled by people of European descent in 1762. At that time it was called Myrifield. The settlement was adjacent to 1740s-era Fort Pelham, one of a chain of forts protecting the northern border of Massachusetts. When its petition for town status was granted in 1785, Myrifield’s name was changed to Rowe. By 1790 443 people lived in Rowe. The town was almost entirely agricultural until the 1875 completion of the Hoosac Tunnel, a railroad tunnel over four miles long that enabled trains to run between Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Troy, New York. Several industries were then built on the Deerfield River, connecting to the new Troy and Greenfield line by the Deerfield River Railroad. Rowe center, though, remained distant from rail access.