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The Honourable Sir Kazimierz Stanisław Gzowski, KCMG ( March 5 , 1813 – August 24 , 1898 ), was an Engineer who served as acting Lieutenant Governor Of Ontario from 1896 to 1897. Gzowski was born in St. Petersburg to a noble Polish father who served with the Russia n military. He emigrated with his family to the United States after the Polish Revolt against Russia in 1830. He knew no English, but began to study law and was admitted to practice. His father was an engineer, and as this became his primary interest, Kazimierz became involved in railway construction in the United States. Eventually he was hired as an engineer to help in the construction of the New York And Erie Railway . In 1841 he moved to Canada to work on the Welland Canal , and also helped finish the building of Yonge Street in southern Ontario. In 1853 he also helped build the Grand Trunk Railway . As president of the Toronto Turf Club, in 1859 he was a prime factor in the creation of the Queen's Plate , the first organized Thoroughbred Horse Race in North America . Sir Casimir was instrumental in organizing the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, where he served as its president from 1889 until 1891, and founded Canada's first rifle association. He was also the first Commissioner of the Niagara Parks Commission . Gzowski founded a company for railway building, Gzowski & Co. , building from Niagara Falls to Sarnia and as far as Montreal . He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1890, and, as a personal friend of Sir John A. Macdonald , was linked to the Conservative Party , even acting as an interim Lieutenant Governor before Oliver Mowat took office in 1897. As a prominent Polish-Canadian , Gzowski was President of the Canadian Polish Congress , overseeing over 240 other Polish organizations of an educational nature, cultural nature, and professional nature. He died in 1898 in Toronto . A monument to his achievements exists in Casimir Gzowski Park, on the Lake Ontario waterfront, in Toronto, to the east of the Humber River. Casimir Gzowski was the great-grandfather of CBC radio personality Peter Gzowski . EXTERNAL LINKS
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