the land for Tower Grove Park to the City of St. Louis in 1868. This spurred the subdivision of several nearby tracts, including Tower Grove Place between Kingshighway and Alfred Avenue in 1870. The “Tower Grove Park Addition” was developed slowly over the following three decades due to poor access to the streetcar system; the nearest line was across Tower Grove Park on Arsenal Street. In 1897, the Missouri Street Railroad Company constructed a new streetcar line to Southampton extending down Vandeventer Avenue and Kingshighway, increasing the viability of residential development in the area. In the 1910s, under the direction of director George T. Moore and chief landscape architect John Noyes, the Botanical Garden began planning to subdivide its land holdings north and west of its modern boundaries, seeking to establish neighborhoods that would complement the Garden’s aesthetic. The first plat, the “Shaw’s Vandeventer Avenue Addition” north of the Garden (along present-day Interstate 44), was completed in 1916. The Garden generated substantial revenue from selling the land to developers, who constructed a variety of multi-family buildings over the following decade. The larger trapezoidal tract of land west of the Garden required more substantial planning. Following the subdivision planning principles of renowned landscape architect Henry Wright, Noyes designed a curved street grid that conformed to the tract’s irregular borders. The “Shaw’s Garden Subdivision” was fully developed by third-party builders by the end of the 1920s. Two private places, Gurney Court and Heger Court, were established by independent developers in the early 1920s along Magnolia Avenue, south of the “Tower Grove Park Addition” and north of Tower Grove Park. These small subdivisions each contain single-family homes centered around a landscaped court. West of Kingshighway Southwest Garden west of Kingshighway has a history similar to its neighbor The Hill. After the "Great Fire" of 1848 destroyed large parts of St. Louis, an ordinance banning frame construction put a premium on brick construction. The demand for brick spurred the mining of clay deposits that had been found west of Kingshighway in the 1830s. As the mines attracted immigrant miners, they began to settle nearby areas. The establishment of St. Aloysius Gonzaga parish in 1892 helped further spur settlement. As a historically German parish, St. Aloysius Gonzaga represented and attracted more Germans. The parish was located at Magnolia and January Avenues. It was razed in 2006. Demographics In 2020, Southwest Garden’s racial makeup was 73.8%