It is bound by the Dolphin Expressway (SR 836) to the north, the Seybold Canal (formerly Wagner Creek and Northwest Eighth Street Road to the east, by the Miami River to the southwest, and West 12th Avenue (SR 933) to the west.

A freshwater spring was found on the tributary in the area, which caused Henry Flagler to build the private Miami Water Company (where a Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Treatment plant is currently located) there in 1899.

By 1918, German-born Miami industrialist John Seybold dredged the Wagner Creek and constructed a turning basin in the creek, prompting area officials to rename the creek "Seybold Canal" in his honor; Seybold purchased and platted the peninsular plot of land immediately south of North 11th Street between the River and Creek for private, residential development, advertising it as one of Miami's premier housing communities into the Florida land boom of the 1920s.

In 1997 Spring Garden was designated as an official Historic District in the City of Miami.

Developed by an important pioneer businessman, Spring Garden is the oldest, intact, single family neighborhood still remaining along the Miami River.