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great engineers. ‘Sir Casimir Gzowski Casimir Street How it got its name. hen Peter Perry drew up his street plans of Port Perry in 1845, he gave the name Cinderella Street to a street parallel to Mary Street and one block south. Peter Perry’s wife was Mary and they had named their first daughter Cinderella. Sometime around 1854, the name was changed to Casimir Street. The new name was in honour of Casimir Gzowski one of Canada’s Kasimierz Gzowski was born in St Petersburg in Russia in 1813. His father ‘was an engineer in the Russian army. During the upheaval of Russian politics in 1830, the Gzowskis emigrated to the United States. Immediately upon their arrival, Kasimierz, anglicized his name to Casimir and entered Jaw school His father had become involved in railway engi- neering in the United States and invited him to join in his work. Casimir later took on an assignment as an engineer, designing sections of the New York and Erie In 1841, Casimir moved to Canada to work as an engineer on the Welland Canal. A few years later he took on work with the St Law- rence and Atlantic Railway and by 1849 was offered the position as Chief Engineer of the project. It was during this time that he became involved with other engineers with Port Perry connections, Walter and Francis Shanly, after whom Shanly Street is named. In 1851 Casimir and the Shanlys were commis- sioned to survey and produce plans for a railway along the Saint Lawrence from Montreal through Kingston to Toronto. Two years later Casimir was hired by the Shanlys to build the Toronto to Guelph railway. This line became part of the Grand Trunk Railway. He was also the contractor for other branches of the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1854 the Shanlys were given the task of drawing up plans for a railway from Whitby to Lake Huron. Port Per- ty’s streets were named after the Shan- lys and Casimir Gzowski as a form of encouragement to make sure that they included Port Perry on the railway line. Unfortunately the proposal for the railway was dropped, but the street names remained. Casimir Gzowski became involved in the Toronto Turf Club, a horse racing organization. At the club he created a race which he called the “Queen's Plate.” Today it is the oldest thorough- bred horse race in North America. In 1889 he organized the Canadian Society of Engineers and served as its Ona = First train arrived at Port Perry station in 1872 26 FOCUS - MAY 2009 named after Sir Casimir Gzowski and Shanly St. (yellow), named after Walter Shanly. The two men were instrumental in bringing the railway to Port Perry. first president until 1891. Asa sign of his contributions to life in Canada, in 1890 he was invited to London and knighted by Queen Vic- toria and became Sir Casimir Gzowski. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1896 to 1897. He died in 1898 in Toronto. re numerous monuments to Sir Casimir Gzowski around the province including a Toronto park named after him on the Lake Ontario waterfront just east of the Humber River and a plaque to him in Niagara Falls directly across from the American Falls. His great grandson Peter Gzowski became a well known Canadian radio personality. By Paul Arculus Focus on Scugog