It’s quite possible that a new generation of voters in Edgartown is no longer steeped in the rich history of the town-owned Katama Airfield, the unique grass airport by the sea where small planes piloted by aviation enthusiasts have flown in and out and small air shows have been held dating back to the early twentieth century.

In 1927 the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission classified the airfield as the finest natural landing field in the East. An ecologically rare and valuable tract of land, it was acquired in 1985 by the town of Edgartown in a complicated transaction that has kept nearly 200 acres of stunning sandplain grassland safe from development.

The hangar that stands today is in serious disrepair and dates to the end of World War II. A 1944 hurricane destroyed two tin hangars at the airfield, and with resources scant during the war era, a new hangar was built with scraps from those buildings and wood salvaged from the beach.

“The doors were blown clear across Herring Creek Road into the pines, and the metal was twisted. The trusses were broken up. It was a sorry sight,” a historical account that appeared later in the Gazette said.

Its dramatic history is just one reason why the hangar deserves to be rebuilt and why the Edgartown selectmen should bring back the hangar question for a second vote.

The $1.2 million project to rebuild the hangar had finally reached the finish line after years of complex legal wrangling. At their annual town meeting last week, town voters easily approved the plan on the town meeting floor. But at the annual town election two days later, a corresponding ballot question to exempt the debt for the airfield project from the provisions of Proposition 2 1/2 failed by just three votes, dealing another frustrating setback to its long-planned restoration.

This is not, as some would have it, a pork barrel project to benefit wealthy pilots. Rather it is an investment in a historic town asset that brings in revenue and makes the airfield an attractive destination for aviators and sightseers alike.

If the hangar is not rebuilt, the Katama Airfield will continue. But the town will have lost an important piece of its history. Allowing the old hangar to crumble would be akin to allowing the rare native landscape that surrounds it to become overgrown and neglected. Neither should be allowed to happen.

Three votes is too small to fail. Revote the question.