Goehring Street

Goehring Street
Neighborhoods	East Allegheny, Spring Hill-City View
Origin of name	Charles L. Goehring
➤ Bluff Street (until 1910)

Goehring Street is named for Charles L. Goehring (1818–1900), who owned the land through which the street now passes. The street is labeled on maps as early as 1890. Goehring was a confectionery wholesaler with his brother Jacob and was later in the oil, iron, and natural gas businesses. He served two terms in the Pennsylvania legislature in the early 1860s.

The part of Goehring Street east of Vista Street was originally named Bluff Street. In 1910, three years after Allegheny was annexed to the city of Pittsburgh, over 900 streets were renamed to fix duplicates. The name Bluff Street conflicted with Bluff Street in the old part of the city, so it was renamed Goehring Street to match the western part.

A 1909 article in the Pittsburg Post, listing the proposed street name changes, supposed that Goehring Street was being named for Harry L. Goehring (1864–1908), former Allegheny County district attorney, who had died in office the year before. Harry was the nephew of Charles. But the western part of the street had been named Goehring some 20 years earlier, and it is clear that it was named for the owner of the land through which it ran.

Bob Regan says that the name Goehring reflects the German heritage of the neighborhood. He also includes "Goehring" in a list of streets named for noted historical people, but with no further details. It is unclear who Regan intended to mean—there are no obvious candidates. The name is similar to that of Hermann Göring (1893–1946), Nazi leader and war criminal, but obviously, for many reasons, this is not the origin of the street name.