by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Long before Machias’ Nash Building became a local symbol of Main Street decline and revitalization, it held a fruit and confectionary store operated by Italian immigrants. 

Joseph Toschi came to Machias in the late 1800s with his children and son-in-law, Ernest Mugnai. According to Mugnai’s great-grandson, Michael Hoyt, Mugnai imported fruit and candy by train from Boston to sell in his Machias fruit store.