Some historians claim that the town was begun by Dr Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (1814–1840), who established a fortress to defend the Paraguayan territory. Others say the town began around 1679. In 1782 the Franciscan Missionaries founded an Indian town in the area with donations of the neighbors of Asuncion. San Antonio may have been founded in 1890 by the German citizen Gustavo Conrado Gotees (born Conrad Götz in Schnabelwald, Germany).