Zhude Station Park Introduction
Built in 1940, Zhutian Station is the only surviving wooden train station on the Southern Link Line of the Taiwan Railway. It is an architectural structure designed in a Western style. As the operational volume gradually declined, the Taiwan Railway Administration originally decided to demolish it. However, with the active efforts of local residents and cultural workers, it was ultimately preserved. After renovation, it was incorporated into the surrounding historic buildings and designated as a cultural preservation area, named "Zhutian Station Garden." The facilities preserved in Zhutian Station Garden include the wooden train station, a wooden oil storage facility, station building, waiting room, granary, rice milling facility, bathhouse, and ancient well, as well as the Li Hsiu-Yun Photography Memorial Hall, Dr. Ichiro Chiba Library, Zhutian Cultural Center, Dexing Rice Mills, a spring ecological pond, and the Train Style Café, all of which exude a strong rustic charm. The Li Hsiu-Yun Photography Memorial Hall was originally an abandoned railway warehouse, which was renovated into a photography-themed hall. The hall features long-term exhibitions of various themed old photos and artifacts of photographer Li Hsiu-Yun, maintaining the significance of preserving historical records. Dr. Ichiro Chiba was a Japanese military doctor who treated impoverished villagers for free, and grateful local residents established the Dr. Ichiro Chiba Library in his name, which houses over 5,000 Japanese-language books across ten categories. The Zhutian Cultural Center was also an old railway warehouse, which was renovated to establish an art classroom and primarily serves as a display hall for traditional farming tools and occasional art exhibitions, enabling visitors and local residents to better understand the history of Zhutian. Built in 1942, the Dexing Rice Mills is notable for its wooden construction of the entire rice milling pipeline. In the early days, Zhutian was a rice distribution center, thus rice mills were prevalent, showcasing the vigorous development of agriculture at that time. The spring ecological pond is planted with beautiful lotus flowers and is home to frogs, turtles, small fish, tadpoles, and other aquatic animals, making it a suitable spot for children and adults to relax or observe wildlife. The Train Style Café was converted from staff quarters and offers various simple meals, coffee, and tea. Surrounding facilities include a Japanese-style bathhouse, ancient well, station building, warehouse, and water tower, along with trains that occasionally speed by, making it the primary recreational area of Zhutian Station Garden. (Visitors are advised not to walk or linger on the railway tracks.)
