It is located between the Swedish cities of Uppsala and Stockholm, at almost equal distance.

[1] The observatory was the result of a donation in 1944 from Nils Tamm, an artist who had studied astronomy in his youth under Nils Christoffer Dunér and Östen Bergstrand in Uppsala and remained an avid amateur astronomer throughout his life.

Wallenquist became the first director of the observatory (1948–1970) and was succeeded by Tarmo Oja (1970–1999) and later Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist (1999–2007).

The asteroid 3331 Kvistaberg, was named for the astronomical observatory, where hundreds of minor planets had been discovered with the Schmidt telescope between 1975 and 2005.

[2][3] Around 2004, Uppsala University decided to discontinue active research at the observatory.