Mt Wistar was deemed to have been seen in 1900 by Robert Peary from the northern side of the Frederick E. Hyde Fjord.

It was named after General Isaac J. Wistar (1827-1905), then President of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

It was mapped by Danish Arctic explorer Lauge Koch and named (Wistars Fjeld) during his Cartographic Air Expedition of 1938.

In 1950 Eigil Knuth, the leader of the Danish Peary Land Expedition, asserted that the mountain was part of Nordkrone.

The warmest month is July when the average temperature rises to −2 °C (28 °F) and the coldest is April with −24 °C (−11 °F).