The provincial administration was first located in a building in Tha Kham (Amphoe Phunphin). Shortly before World War II, it was moved to the city of Surat Thani on the banks of the Tapi river, but when the Japanese invaded Thailand on December 8, 1941, the building caught fire in the battle for the city and was destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1954, but on March 19, 1982, this was destroyed by a bomb planted by communist rebels, killing 5 people. The third building was erected in the south of the city. The former site of the provincial hall is now the city pillar shrine