The first known owner of the Frome estate in Westmoreland Parish was British immigrant Christopher Morris, who came to Jamaica with the English army in 1655. It 1863 it was already a water powered sugar mill belonging to Thomas Storer Esq. Its history is somewhat unknown until the 1930s when the estate was purchased by the British firm Tate & Lyle who then bought seven small factories in the parishes of Westmoreland and Hanover that included Frome. On May 22, 1937, when Jamaican sugar was experiencing a period of attractive prices, British sugar refiner Tate & Lyle established a subsidiary, the West Indies Sugar Co. Ltd. (WISCo) with a capital of £600,000. ​That same month, WISCo purchased several plantations formerly owned by James Charley, John Charley and the Morris family in the Frome area.  The purchase included sufficient acreage but the sugar factories were old and small so the decision was made to build a new central sugar mill to replace the existing seven small sugar factories. Construction of the Frome sugar mill at an estimated cost of £500,000 was finished in time for the 1939 milling season and began operations on January 14, 1939. Upon completion of construction, it was considered the most modern sugar factory in the Caribbean at the time. This did not come without some difficulties as the consolidation of seven sugar estates resulted in many sugar workers left without jobs which was most likely what triggered the 1938 riots at Frome that resulted in the death of fourteen and the injury of hundreds more.

Additions were made in 1954  increasing milling capacity to one hundred twenty thousand tons and again in 1957 doubling its milling capacity.  Production was increased from 21,900 m.t. in 1938 to 106,000 m.t. in 1965.  Under WISCo management, Frome had higher productivity than the average sugar mill on the island.  Notwithstanding its earlier performance, due to heavy losses, in 1971 Frome was acquired by the Jamaican government owned National Sugar Co.​ for $8.4 million together with Monymusk and Bernard Lodge sugar mills.  As part of the transaction, Tate & Lyle retained management of the sugar mill under a management agreement.  In 1982 the Jamaican government owned Jamaica Sugar Holdings was created to acquire the eight sugar mills owned by the government under the National Sugar Co., one of which was Frome.  This time, management was awarded to the Booker Tate Group, a firm affiliated with Tate & Lyle.

Booker Tate Group closed three of the sugar mills acquired and continued to operate the remaining five which included Frome, Monymusk and Bernard Lodge.  In 1994 due to heavy losses accumulated, Jamaica Sugar Holdings sold all five factories it owned and were managed by Booker Tate Group for J$1.36 billion to the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ).   SCJ was a consortium composed of Manufacturers Merchant Bank, J Wray & Nephew Co. Ltd. and Booker Tate Group, each with a 17% interest and the Jamaican government retaining 49%.  The three private partners did not provide the capital needed to keep the sugar factories in operation and returned their 51% back to the government in October 1998 for J$1.00.  

Again, as the result of heavy accumulated losses and in an effort to revive the island's sugar industry, the Jamaican government underwent another divestment process started in 2009.  In 2011, Frome together with Monymusk and Bernard Lodge were awarded to Pan Caribbean Sugar Co. Ltd., the subsidiary of Chinese-based Hua Lien International Holding Co. Ltd who operates six sugar mills in Africa.  ​​With a production capacity of 90,000 m.t., the most recent production figures available show Frome producing a mere 20,500 m.t. and 23,300 m.t. for the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 milling seasons respectively.  Pan Caribbean Sugar Co. Ltd., ceased to operate Monymusk and returned it to the Jamaican government after the 2018 crop year. It continued to operate Frome which today consists of some thirty thousand acres, about 15% the total area of Westmoreland Parish.  It is the greatest single source of employment of the parish.

According to a press release, in April 2026 Frome sugar factory was ordered to cease operations following a formal investigation into metal fragments discovered in packaged sugar. The Westmoreland Health Department and the Bureau of Standards Jamaica launched a joint probe after videos circulating on social media showed a consumer using a magnet to visibly pull metal particles from the sugar, footage that spread rapidly and triggered urgent public concern across the region. The Westmoreland Health Department formally ordered the factory's closure in mid-April 2026, and a product recall has been under active consideration by Jamaican authorities. The Sugar Industry Authority instructed the factory to strengthen its contaminant control systems before normal distribution can resume.