Our founder, Robert Protesto or “Bob” was an artist and World War II vet who at a young age was exposed to the world of hand painted signs while working at his grandparent's oyster house during the Great Depression. Bob’s skills and experience as a sign painter, and the relationships that he made along the way, helped him go from a kid who created hand painted signs for local shops to a respected and well-known figure in the signage industry.   

The Upper Darby Sign Company was created by Robert V. Protesto after he returned from serving in WWII. It began as a specialty shop focusing on hand lettering for local businesses in a 5,000 sq ft storefront on West Chester Pike in Upper Darby PA. 

We moved to our new 15,000 Sq Ft facility in an old Popcorn Factory. Where we evolved from standard paper signs & hand painted vehicles to electric signs, illuminated and non-illuminated awnings and sign band facia systems.  

To expand our neon shop and electric sign department we moved to a 25,000 sq ft facility. It was here with the help of his wife Kay and his 4 sons Bob Jr, Jack, Vince, and Ed that Upper Darby Sign Company expanded its business operation and rebranded to Pro Signs which is a nod to Roberts military name “Pro”.    

To service our increasing National Account work we found ourselves in need of a larger facility, which is when we made the move to Downingtown, PA into a 50,000 sq ft facility on Boot Rd. It was here we developed our Channel Letter capabilities, Electrical Signage, incorporated Large Form Digital Printing and a Downdraft Spray Booth. Officially making us a 3M Scot Print Certified Shop. 

Due to our business' continued growth and the constraints of size, we bought and developed an 80,000 sq ft facility on 13 acres of land right next door, utilizing both buildings and the land for operations. This larger space gave us room to expand our storage, increase our machinery (CMC, Vacuum Former, Digital Printer, Mechanical Channelers and more), as well as creating more space for our in-house installation & service fleet. 

Pro Signs has been in business for over 75 years and continues to fulfill customers’ signage and branding needs on a national level where we work with some of the world’s most recognizable and influential brands.