In that century, the missionary agents to be villaged in religious[8] The historical evolution of Miguel Pereira is linked to that of Vassouras and Paty do Alferes, and to the expansion of coffee culture in the Rio Paraíba do Sul valley.

The drovers who went up the Rio das Mortes towards Sacra Família do Tinguá (currently a district of the municipality of Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin), fixed a crossing point in a small floodplain.

It was only after the construction of the Capela do Santo Antônio in 1898 that the settlers of Estiva began to build their humble houses and form an incipient commerce in an urban nucleus, thus encouraging the arrival of new residents to the place.

Despite suffering economic decline due to the abolition of slavery in 1888 and the depletion of land due to inadequate exploitation of coffee plantations, urban development was boosted at the beginning of the 20th century, when the line of Estrada de Ferro Melhoramentos (incorporated to the Central do Brasil Railroad in 1903), which, starting from Japeri, in the Baixada Fluminense, reached the Paraíba do Sul River in the city of Paraíba do Sul.

This is the case of Governador Portela, where part of the urban areas was owned by the Federal Railroad Network (RFFSA), which built an entire residential village for railway workers.

The urbanization of the areas adjacent to the Estiva station would take place in the 1930s, when the qualities of the region's climate were propagated by the doctor and professor Miguel Pereira [pt], who would later give the city its name.

In 1955, the first two districts were dismembered from Vassouras, in order to form the municipality of Miguel Pereira, which thus achieved emancipation, under Law nº 2 626, of October 25 of that year, and was installed on 26 July 1956.

It has the curious shape of a fish, which is practically on the Tinguá Biological Reserve, which, recently, competed for one of the posts of the 7 Wonders of Rio promoted by the newspaper "O Globo".

Miguel Pereira is a mountain town par excellence, it is considered one of the best climates in the world due to its constant average annual temperature and well-distributed rainfall throughout the year.