The government of Martín Rodríguez worked with William Parish Robertson to settle 500 Scottish immigrants in the town in the 1820s.

Named for the Pago de Monte Grande founded by a Spanish Empire Conquistador, the town initially grew around tala and ombú forests, to which vineyards and peach trees were later added.

The Sociedad Coni, Sansinena y Cía., prominent Avellaneda-area saladero operators, purchased the land from the Fair family in 1889; Governor Máximo Paz signed a bill establishing Monte Grande on April 3 of that year.

Among Monte Grande's first significant businesses were kiln opened by Coni & Sansinena, and the Bon Marché market.

A Coca-Cola bottling plant and the Sofía Santamarina Hospital thus became two of the largest employers in the city, which became a bedroom community with a services-oriented economy.