In 1955, Dhamtari was a town with a population of 17,278. It was located in the Raipur District of the state of Madhya Pradesh. In 2000, it became part of the new Chhattisgarh state. It also served as the headquarters for the Dhamtari Tahsil, a political equivalent of a county in America. Its importance also lay in the fact that it was the terminus of a narrow-gauge railway line from Raipur, 80 km (50 miles) to the north on the main Bombay-Calcutta line of the Bengal Nagpur railway. Among the goods shipped from Dhamtari were forest products such as timber, shellac, morabulum nuts and biri (cigarette) leaves along with farm produce such as rice and hides.
Dhamtari was the headquarters of the Mennonite Church (MC) in India (successor to the American Mennonite Mission), established in 1899 and merged with the church organization in 1952. In 1955, it had a congregation of 558 members, who worshipped in a large brick church. The Dhamtari Christian Academy, Dhamtari Christian Hospital, Samuel Burkhard Memorial Boys' Orphanage and a nursing school were missionary institutions located here. Marathapara, a part of Dhamtari has the largest number of Marathas in the world
