Orphaned at the age of one when both his parents (Anna and Józef) died in a boating accident, he grew up in a series of foster homes, and was raised by an Irish boxer.

His first marble sculpture, made in 1932, honored Judge Frederick Pickering Cabot, who had inspired him as a child growing up in the rough neighborhoods of Boston.

[2] Ziolkowski moved to New Britain, Connecticut, to begin life as a professional artist, and began to sell commissioned sculptures throughout New England and New York.

He thought the Wyoming Tetons would be the best choice, where the rock would be better for carving, but the Lakota wanted the memorial in the sacred Black Hills on a 600-foot (180 m)-high mountain.

[5] Instead, as he stated on a 1961 guest appearance on the TV show To Tell the Truth, he raised money for the project by charging seventy-five cents admission to the monument work area.

He was buried in an impressive tomb that he had built, with a huge steel plate on which he cut the words, "Korczak; Storyteller in Stone; May His Remains; Be Left Unknown" at the base of the mountain.

[2][8] All ten of their children and two of their grandchildren have continued the carving of the monument or are active in the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.

Plans are for the Crazy Horse Memorial site to become a university campus and cultural complex celebrating the Native Americans of North America.