Hokuto District Office

The Hokuto District Office (北斗郡役所) was the administrative headquarters of Hokuto District (北斗郡) under Taichū Prefecture (臺中州) during the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan (1895–1945). It was established on October 1, 1920, as part of the comprehensive administrative reorganization that transformed Taiwan's western ten prefectures (廳) into five states (州), with districts (郡) serving as the intermediate level of local governance.

Hokuto District encompassed a vast area of 447.29 square kilometers in southern Changhua, comprising — after Erlin was raised from village to street status in 1937 — two streets (街), Hokuto and Erlin, and six villages (庄) — Tanbi (田尾), Hitō (埤頭), Sunazan (沙山, now Fangyuan), Taijō (大城), Chikutō (竹塘), and Keishū (溪州). The district office in Hokuto Street served as the nerve center for local administration, taxation, civil registration, and police oversight across this predominantly agricultural region. By 1942, the district had a population of 170,510, earning the nickname "Taiwan's Brazil" for its prodigious output of rice, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes.

As the district seat, Hokuto developed into a modern small city during the colonial period, receiving merely the third urban plan in all of Taichū Prefecture — after only Taichung and Changhua cities. The town featured a full complement of colonial administrative infrastructure, including the district office, the district chief's official residence (郡守官舍), a police chief's residence, and a hokō (保甲) affairs office. However, Hokuto's growth was constrained by the fact that the main north-south railway bypassed the town, and it gradually lost its regional prominence to Yuanlin.

The original Hokuto District Office building no longer stands. The site is now occupied by the Changhua County Police Bureau's Beidou Branch. However, several related colonial-era buildings in the immediate vicinity have survived and been designated as cultural heritage sites, including the Hokuto District Chief's Official Residence (北斗郡守官舍, now the Changhua County 228 and Human Rights Memorial Hall) and the Hokuto Hokō Affairs Office (北斗保甲事務所), built in 1936 and designated a county monument in 2009.

The surrounding Beidou Japanese Official Residence Cluster (北斗郡官舍聚落建築群) includes 16 Japanese-style dormitories, of which several key structures — the district chief's, street chief's, and police chief's residences — remain well preserved, offering a rare and cohesive glimpse into the colonial administrative landscape of rural Taiwan.