hard to find and completely intact late 19th century interior polychromatic hand-stenciled canvas section designed and fabricated by notable chicago decorators, healy & millet. the stencil contains a nicely aged patina with no cleaning or alterations since the time it was installed. the finely executed stencil is structurally sound and stable. the st. louis union station is a large romanesque structure that first opened in 1894, representing a competition-winning architectural design by theodore c. link. at a cost of $6.5 million, the structure incorporated awe-inspiring scale and ornament. on the exterior, the brick walls of the facade were faced with limestone, and the impressive terminal featured a 230-foot clock tower. link designed three main areas, the headhouse, midway, and train shed. the latter was an enormous, metal-framed structure that was once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world. in the most ornate section of the entire building, the grand hall exhibited gilded arches and a 65-foot barrel vaulted ceiling decorated wholly with stained glass, mosaics, and gold leaf, as well as scrollwork and elaborate plasterwork, mostly executed by craftsmen from st. louis. for his part, millet was a master colorist, and in partnership with george healy created the intricate, flat designs of this frieze panel by applying 10 or more colors of oil paint to produce the end effect. the "sullivanesque" design bears some resemblance to millet & healy's other work, and in fact the firm created the stencilwork for the st. louis union train station concurrently with that of the chicago stock exchange. the designers had first collaborated with sullivan on the auditorium building in 1889, and the train station was an independent project, that, along with the art institute's fullerton hall, cemented their design ethos as being akin to or in harmony with sullivan's.