McRee Town was a mostly African American neighborhood bounded by Chouteau Avenue on the North; 39th Street on the East; Interstate 44 on the South; and Vandeventer on the West. The area was previously part of the Shaw neighborhood, but was cut-off and isolated by the construction of Interstate 44 in the 1970s. By the 1990s, the area suffered from excessive levels of crime, violence, drug trafficking, and gang warfare. Neighbors, including residents in the Shaw neighborhood and institutions such as the Missouri Botanical Garden, became concerned that the violence and dereliction would spill over into their neighborhoods. They jointly established the Garden District Commission, which was tasked with establishing a plan for the revitalization of McRee Town. With the strong assistance of Alderman Steve Conway, the commission pushed through a broad assault on blight that dislocated existing African American residents from the area. A six-block area was slated for clearance, and these buildings were demolished to make way for the construction of new homes. The plan generated controversy, as long-term residents were removed from the neighborhood and some structurally sound historic buildings were caught up in the mass demolitions. In other parts of the neighborhood, existing buildings were rehabbed and new buildings built on vacant lots. As part of the rehabilitation plan, McRee Town was renamed Botanical Heights, in an effort to erase the negative connotations formerly associated with the neighborhood.

The Shaw neighborhood lies adjacent to the Missouri Botanical Gardens and Tower Grove Park, and it is bounded by Interstate 44 on the North; Magnolia Avenue on the South; South Grand Boulevard on the East; and Tower Grove Avenue on the West. While overall the Shaw neighborhood maintained greater stability than McRee Town to the north, it, too, saw extensive renovation and rebuilding in the early 2000s.