It was founded in 1824 as an agricultural colony. The government of Martín Rodríguez worked with William Parish Robertson to settle 500 Scottish immigrants in the town in the 1820s.[1]
It has an area of 22.57 km2 (8.71 sq mi) and a population of 109,644 inhabitants (2001 census [INDEC]).
Named for the Pago de Monte Grande founded by a Spanish EmpireConquistador, 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. Esteban Echeverría Partido was established in 1913, with Monte Grande as its county seat. A number of meat packing plants operated here during much of the 20th century, though these eventually closed. 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.[2]
