Puerto Montt was founded on the 12th February 1853, by Vicente Pérez Rosales, and named in honor of the president Manuel Montt. At this time there was already a prison, church, cemetery and a building to house the local government.

The area was previously covered with forest and known as Melipulli. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, timber merchants from Calbuco started to visit, and stockpiled alerce boards here.

This was the place chosen by Pérez Rosales to set up a port to supply the new colony of Llanquihue and the surrounding territory.

Until 1912, the port served as the sole supply route for the surrounding land. At the beginning of 1906, the building of a new railroad to the north began; it reached Puerto Varas in 1909 and Llanquihue in 1911. The installation of the railroad accelerated the growth of the city-port.
The city was almost totally destroyed by the earthquake in 1960, which devastated the waterside and the port. Today the port has modern equipment and installations.