Goethe is one of the collection of grape varieties known as Rogers' Hybrids, created by Edward Staniford Rogers of Salem, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century, and is the result of a cross of Carter, a selection of Vitis labrusca, and Black Hamburg, a selection of Vitis vinifera. It was originally known as Rogers No. 1, until Rogers named it after Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the German author, artist, and scientist.