Named after Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish officer who served the American Revolution.
Born in Poland in 1746, Kościuszko joined the American cause, and the Continental Congress made him a brigadier general. Back in Poland he became commander-in-chief of the Polish forces; he died in Switzerland in 1817. The official city map long spelled the street ‘Kosciusko’; in 1997 Mayor Giuliani signed a bill correcting it by adding the z.