Ater, Texas

Ater is an unincorporated community in Coryell County, in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 25 in 2000. It is located within the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area.

History
Ater was first settled by people from Pontotoc County, Mississippi in the early 1870s. It was originally named Sardis for Sardis, Mississippi after a church they attended there, but was then renamed Ater for Joe Ater, who owned a general store in the community. A post office was established at Ater in 1899 and remained in operation until 1907, with Joe Ater serving as postmaster. Mail was then sent from Jonesboro. The Stephenville North and South Texas Railway built a track a mile from the community in 1911, but it then went bankrupt in the mid-1930s. The settlement had a church, one business, and some scattered houses in the mid-1940s, and the population was reported as 25 from that time through 2000.

Geography
Ater is located a mile north of Farm to Market Road 2412 on the Leon River's south bank, 9 mi northwest of Gatesville in northwestern Coryell County.

Education
Ater has been a part of the Jonesboro Independent School District since 1939.