It is named in honor of amateur astronomer Dr. Goethe Link, an Indianapolis surgeon, who built it with his private funds.

[1] From 1949 until 1966, the Indiana Asteroid Program was conducted at Goethe Link, using a 10-inch Cooke triplet astrograph (f/6.5).

[3] The program resulted in the discovery of 119 asteroids, which were credited by the Minor Planet Center to "Indiana University".

[4] When light pollution began to degrade the Goethe Link Observatory's capabilities in the 1960s, Indiana University built a new facility in the Morgan–Monroe State Forest officially designated as the Morgan–Monroe Station (MMS) of the Goethe Link Observatories.

Today, Indiana University primarily uses the WIYN 3.5-m and 0.9-m telescopes located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ for ongoing research.