Munroe was born in Brooklyn, New York and obtained a Masters of Engineering at Columbia University in 1869.

Hired by the Japanese government on a three-year contract from 1872 and 1875, Munroe was assigned to Yesso (now Hokkaidō), in northern Japan, as Assistant Geologist and Mining Engineer with the Geological Survey of Yesso for the Hokkaidō Colonization Agency.

Munroe was assigned to work with Lyman on a geological survey after Antisell had been dismissed from his post due to personal conflicts with Capron.

At the conclusion of his contract, Munroe was hired as a professor of Geology and Mining at the Tokyo Imperial University from 1875 and 1876.

Munroe returned to the United States, and obtained his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1877, where he subsequently became Adjunct Professor of Mining until 1891.