Lawyer, Engineer, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Casimir Gzowski, son of Polish Count Stanslaw Gzowski, was born in Saint Petersburg during his father's tour of duty as a captain in the Imperial Guard. At the age of nine he was sent away to a preparatory school where the curriculum included architecture, medicine, and surveying. Gzowski graduated in 1830 and, at age 17, had a place in the Imperial Corps of Engineers. However, soon thereafter, Polish insurgents rebelled against Russia. Gzowski served as an officer in a Polish corps; his brigade was captured and in an Austrian prison by 1831. The Austrian government, bowing to diplomatic pressure from Western Europe and America, allowed their prisoners to be exiled to the United States. Gzowski was among the group of Polish immigrants who arrived in New York harbor in March 1834, where they received a warm welcome. He found employment as a clerk in a law office in Massachusetts, and also gave lessons in languages, music, draftsmanship, and fencing. By November 1837, Gzowski had completed his law apprenticeship and become an American citizen. He moved to Pennsylvania where he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law. However, given his previous education, Gzowski not surprisingly developed an interest in railway and canal construction. He shifted from law to engineering. He assisted in the construction of the New York and Erie Railway. In October 1839, he married. Gzowski moved to Canada in 1841. He became a superintendent of roads and waterways, managing a variety of large projects. In 1846, he became a British citizen. Gzowski left the Board of Works in 1848 to pursue other opportunities. From Sherbrooke, Canada, he oversaw the completion of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad. With three partners, he formed a contracting firm, C. S. Gzowski and Company. His firm won multiple contracts, including that to build the Toronto and Guelph Railway. However, after the Toronto municipal council cancelled a contract for an esplanade along the city's waterfront in 1855, the group ended their partnership by 1858. Gzowski diversified the projects undertaken by his firm. He commissioned the construction of an Italianate villa on a beautiful estate in Toronto in the late 1850's for his family. Other interests included Canada's first rifle association, the Dominion Rifle Association. Gzowski was a founder of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers and served as president of the organization from 1889 to 1892. He was the first chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission, from 1885 to 1893. He even briefly served as acting Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1896 to 1897. Queen Victoria knighted Gzowski in 1890, Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. The Gzowski Monument at Casimir Gzowski Park in Toronto honors him. The Canadian post office issued a commemorative stamp on the 150th anniversary of his birth in 1963. His descendants included great-grandson Peter Gzowski, radio personality.