Historically, Bilaspur was a part of Kalchuri dynasty of Ratanpur. The city, however, came into prominence around 1741, the year of the Maratha Empire invasion, when a Mahratta official took up his abode there and began to build a fort which was never completed.

The populace of Bilaspur suffered heavily during the famine of 1896-1897, during which the city experienced the highest death rate of the region.

Guru Ghasidas, (1756-1836) started a religious movement Satnamis meaning the worshippers of Satnam or God between 1820 and 1830.

He belonged to the Dalit caste of Chamar, or the leather-ware artisans. Bilaspur has a university named as Guru Ghasidas University.

The city was taken over by the British East India Company of Great Britain in the year 1854 when the then ruler of the region of the Mahratta kingdom died heirless.