When Robert Hugh Munro died in 1798, he willed a sum of money "for the endowment of a school in the parish of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica for the education of poor children of the parish." These funds were bequeathed in a trust to his nephew, Dr. Caleb Dickenson and the churchwardens of the parish and their successors to be used to establish and operate the school.
 
The funds were used for other purposes until 1856, when through an Act of the Legislature the remainder of the bequest was used to establish the Munro & Dickenson Free School in Black River. The following year the school was moved to Potsdam, the highest point in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and was at that time the only high school for boys in the western Jamaica. The name of the school was later changed to Munro College.

It is situated on 150 acres of land. Although the school appears to be somewhat isolated, the students are not often lonely as they are surrounded by people who care about them and for them.