Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple Workers with North American Display of Pittsburgh dismantle the W.D. Packard Music Hall sign in front of the music hall along Mahoning Avenue NW on Friday.

WARREN — Workers from a Pittsburgh company spent Friday evening taking down the large black letters from the iconic sign outside Packard Music Hall that was used to advertise events.

The sign, which was erected in 1984, will be replaced by a new fully digital marquee that is set to be installed this weekend.

The total cost of the project was between $50,000 and $55,000, and the down payment was made in January to North American Display in Pittsburgh. The entire $50,000 project was funded by donations with $5,000 each donated by the W.D. Packard Concert Band, Trumbull Town Hall, the W.D. Packard Music Hall Foundation and JAC Management, along with a $25,000 anonymous donation.

The new marquee will feature permanent panels that say Packard Music Hall and “Home of the W.D. Packard Concert Band” along with a 8-feet-wide-by-12-feet high LED fully digital display.

The new sign will enable Packard Music Hall employees to put up a photo of the artist coming to the venue, and the sign can be changed with a few keyboard taps instead of having to go outside.

In addition to promoting events at the hall, the sign also could be used for such things as alerting residents to road closures during downtown festivals.

The new sign is the latest improvement at Packard Music Hall. An elevator and other improvements necessary to make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act were completed in October.

Packard Music Hall opened in 1955, and it was built with money from a trust established by Packard Motor Car Company and Packard Electric Company founder William Doud Packard before his death in 1923. The city is responsible for the operating expenses of the building, and JAC Management was hired in 2014 to run the venue.