The Essex Historical Society has decided that the little red building — the one with the faded yellow label, on Route 153 — deserves its place in history.

Anyone who travels the Route 9 corridor has seen it over the years, perched on the southern end of the Valley Railroad Company grounds. But few may know its significance to Essex and American beauty and commerce. The EHS plans to change that.

Tonight is the kick-off of a year-long celebration of the historical society’s 60th anniversary and the Dickinson Initiative, a collaboration to restore the historic building and to tell the story of how the E.E. Dickinson Witch Hazel business shaped the community. EHS and Valley Railroad are hosting a pre-construction party from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Free to the public, it gives people a chance to a peek inside the building, learn about restoration plans, and to watch the iconic, but faded, yellow sign be taken down for restoration.

“Everyone knows the ‘Yellow Label’ building,” says Sherry Clark, EHS president. “But few know the importance of witch hazel and the Dickinson family and business in our community. They were a very prominent family here, until about the 1970s. It will be nice to have it looking spiffier and for people to know the story.”

Profitable production of witch hazel astringent in the 1900s helped shape the development of Essex, certainly the grand buildings on North Main Street, says Clark. Extracted from the witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) bush, the herbal tonic has cleansing, soothing and healing properties.

Although a chemist Avan Whittemore was credited with first local production in 1846, according to former town historian Don Malcarne, by 1870 Reverend N.T. Dickinson was the sole producer of witch hazel, using a secret distilling formula. His son, E.E. Dickinson Sr., is credited for the huge growth in the company during the product’s “golden age.”

In 1914, more than 6,000 barrels of the witch hazel were stored in Essex. The corporate complex, including horse carriages, lined North Main Street. Most of the buildings in what is now the Valley Railroad complex were working buildings in the Dickinson enterprise.

The Yellow Label building, built in 1915, fits in the story as the mill where the company processed birch oil until 1926. Birch oil apparently didn’t catch on like witch hazel did, but it had been made with much the same distilling process and equipment. In the 1980s, the building became a storefront for the company’s line of products.

“It’s as if they said TGIF one day and never looked back,” says Clark of the building’s contents. While Valley Railroad will handle the physical restoration of the building, including windows and a new roof, EHS members are sorting through the materials and equipment found inside, researching the history and preparing display panels that will further elaborate the story of witch hazel production and the Dickinson family and business. Some members of the Dickinson family, who still live here and are members of the historical society, are helping with the effort.

“No one has really collected information as broadly based as this will be,” says Clark. “We realized that a lot of people who knew about the company and the family have moved away or are no longer with us. It was important to collect this information and some artifacts now.”

In 1983, the Dickinson family sold the E.E. Dickinson Company to a group of investors. Two years later, it was bought by Merz, Inc., a German pharmaceutical company, which moved operations to North Carolina.

Clark says the historical society, which has more than 250 members and holds monthly programs, wanted to give back to the community. When teams of volunteers started researching the Dickinson story, they found willing collaborators with other organizations.

Four more events are planned for the coming year. There’s a fundraising reception on Sunday, Sept. 13, in three Dickinson buildings on North Main Street in Essex and the fifth annual EHS Fall Foliage Antique Auto Show and Tour of Dickinson business and family sites in partnership with the Belltown Antique Car Club on Sunday, Oct. 18. Historians will present “Creating the E. E. Dickinson National Brand” in January 2016 at the former Dickinson corporate office at 31 North Main St., Essex, now the Wells Fargo office building.

The final event of the celebratory year will be one year from tonight, when EHS, collaborating organizations and the public, will again meet at the Yellow Label building to admire the completed restoration.

When she’s not gardening in Old Lyme, Suzanne hosts “CT Outdoors” on WLIS 1420 AM and WMRD 1150 AM and www.wliswmrd.net, Saturdays from 1 to 1:30 p.m. and Sundays from 7 to 7:30 a.m.

What: Dickinson Initiative Pre-Construction Party

When: Friday, May 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; overview of Dickinson Initiative plans; and Yellow Label Day Proclamation by Essex Board of Selectmen. Don’t miss the display of Witch Hazel advertising art in Jenssen Gallery of River Valley Junction building.

Where: “Yellow Label” building at the Valley Railroad Company; Plains Road, Rte. 153, on the southern end of the depot property

Info: essexhistory.org