Montrose is steeped in history. The name Montrose means Mount of Roses and was originally established by David Kilbourne, a prominent Keokuk leader. At one time, the hillside along Bluff Park was covered in roses.

Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, famous French explorers stopped here. Joliet traded with the Indians and Father Marquette brought the message of Christianity.  Montrose is also home to the first apple orchard in the state of Iowa.  It sits beneath the waves of the Mississippi because it was submerged when the Keokuk Dam was built in 1912 and 1913.

In 1832 Captain James White made a claim and built a home here; two years before Lee County came into existence.

Fort Des Moines was located in what is now River View Park. Montrose has been home to thriving industries:  clam digging, saw mills; button making; and, boats landed at Montrose to take on or discharge freight. Montrose was also home to an opera house, three general stores, a hardware store, drug store, garden tool factory, button factories and coal and lumber yards. The businesses are no longer in existence because when the dam was built, these areas were flooded by the Mississippi.