Chhatarpur was founded in 1785 and is named after leader Chhatrasal, the founder of Bundelkhand, and contains his cenotaph.

The state was guaranteed to Kunwar Sone Singh Ponwar[1] in 1806 by the British Raj.

[2] The Ponwar Rajas ruled a princely state with an area of 1,118 square miles (2,900 km2), and population of 156,139 in 1901, which was part of the Bundelkhand agency of Central India.

In 1901 the town of Chhatarpur had a population of 10,029, a high school and manufactured paper and coarse cutlery.

Places of interest in chhatarpur are Bageshwar dham (25 km from city) Khajuraho temples (40 km) Kutni dam (40 km ) Dhubela measuem (5) Jatashankar temple (40) Hanuman toriya Chhatarpur has humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa) with hot summers, a somewhat cooler monsoon season and cool winters.

There are many granite mining and polishing industries operating in Chhatarpur district.

There is a proposal to set up a solar plant in Barethi village, 20 kilometers away from Chhatarpur.

They offer graduate and post-graduate courses in the faculties of Arts, Science, Commerce, Education and Law.

Chhatarpur railway station has been started in 2017 which is connected to prayagraj lucknow, nagpur, mumbai, Surat ,Ahmedabad,indore, bhopal, delhi, jaipur, prayagraj, Patna and cities with continuously increasing trains.

Chhatarpur also has a Doordarshan's Hi power transmitter for TV which is located at Deri Road.

Many projects are declared by government or are under construction which are Kanpur bhopal expressway- this expressway is passing from city which enhance trade, industrialisation in area.