Planned Rectilinear Subdivision

Residential communities developed according to a rectilinear grid in which upper-middle-class villas surround a public square or boulevard or, as in the “private places” of St. Louis, form a private, park-like enclave. Entry portals, bedding-out gardens, street trees, deed restrictions, access to railroad or streetcar, and the formation of private trusts to manage private roads and parks were common characteristics of such subdivisions.