Founder Of Earl Daup Signs, Feb 11th 1917 - Jan 6th 1979
Earl Daup
Earl Daup, was born to be an artist, drawing, painting, and maneuvering the paint brush a way nobody could, he seen colors differently than everyone else did, he used his imagination and creativity to get the most out of his tools, hand drawing signs is a long process but he didn't mind, this was his passion.
The beginning
Born With A Gift
1930 - Earl was born with a gift, a gift that most people don't have, the imagination to create something out of nothing and that's what he did. His intentions were to pass down his artistic ability to his son’s Gerald & Daniel Daup which are now the current owners of Earl Daup Signs.
Making A Name For Himself
Earl took his natural born skill and turned it into life sized paintings for his local clients, this attracted people all over the Flint area, requesting hand painted signs and even hand painted window designs from this point the signage industry took off.
Painting Flint
After years of work and providing artwork and signs to national company's you see today, Earl had a name for himself. He built a reputation for himself and people understood his talent and what he was capable of you can even still see some of his artwork floating around today's era, including the Huckleberry railroad that still operates on its same original tracks everyday.
1948 Dort Hwy - First company purchase
After years of hard work the buildings got bigger, the distances got farther and we didn't have the equipment we needed to fulfill our customers needs Earl then decided to purchase a building a long with one brand new company truck, this was the start to a major success making Earl Daup Signs the first full service family sign company in Flint, Mi.
1953 - Out With The Old-In With The New
Earl's style of signage was always painting and done by hand, but the times are changing and the signs are evolving he knew he was going to have to change for himself and the company, he eventually installed his very own neon lit sign with a fascia all made by hand.
1956 - State-wide Full Service Sign Company
Signage was booming, the economy is flowing and since Earl Daup Signs was state wide, we grew bigger and faster than ever before soon purchasing our second work truck in 1956.
Earl's Hand Painted Check
The work for Earl Daup Signs sky rocketed and soon became a widely known name in the area for its business, this soon lead to another expense and shortly after in 1967 we purchased our first fully operable crane trucks from Apple Gate Chevrolet for $22,743 in today's money (2019) that would be 668.2% inflation increase totaling about $174,706 in today's money Earl went on and hand painted the check for this picture specifically.
The Family Advantage
Earl Daup Signs has been family owned its entire life, we inspect and make sure every product we deliver is guaranteed to be the best product you can get, carefully hand crafted and looked over from people who started the sign industry, your getting the family advantage.