Arrival with Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels Thielepape arrived in Texas in 1844, with the first
Adelsverein colony accompanying
Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels from Germany. After participating in a tour of the eastern and central United States in 1850, Thielepape settled in Carlshafen (
Indianola), Texas, as a surveyor.
Uvalde County and Comal County On May 2, 1855,
Reading Wood Black hired Thielepape, For a short time, Thielepape lived in
Comal County where he designed the 1860 courthouse.
San Antonio Thielepape moved to San Antonio in 1854. On April 2, 1858, he was among the organizers of the San Antonio's German-English School. In 1857, Thielepape designed the
Casino Club on Market Street, which opened in 1858. The club had its beginnings as a social gathering in 1854 in the home of Carl Hummel. When the club was chartered in 1857, its membership consisted of 106
German Texan men. The Market Street location hosted family entertainment, balls, social gatherings, music, activities, lectures and plays. Thielepape was a tenor who also founded the Beethoven Männerchor (men's choir) on February 23, 1867, to preserve German song, music, and language. He conducted the Beethoven Männerchor at the Casino. Wilhelm Thielepape was among those who raised the Union flag over the
Alamo on July 21, 1865, and who also passed out wine and songbooks in celebration of the Union victory. The four-month delay between the end of the
Civil War in April and this celebration is not long in light of the years between the
Emancipation Proclamation and the news of it being delivered in
Galveston, a date now denoted as the
Juneteenth US national holiday. Thielepape was appointed Reconstruction
Mayor of San Antonio on November 8, 1867. In his tenure as mayor, Thielepape's administration built bridges, laid macadam streets, and strengthened the public schools. On March 12, 1872, Thielepape was removed from office and succeeded by
Francois P. Giraud, but he remained active in the community. In April 1874, Thielepape turned the Beethoven Männerchor over to Andreas Scheidemantel. ==Chicago and later years==