| Official Name: | Ater, Texas |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
| Pushpin Map: | Texas#USA |
| Pushpin Label: | Ater |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Texas |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Coryell |
| Timezone: | Central (CST) |
| Utc Offset: | -6 |
| Timezone Dst: | CDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -5 |
| Elevation Ft: | 843 |
| Coordinates: | 31.5233°N -97.8611°W |
| Area Code: | 254 |
| Blank Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank Info: | 1379371 |
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.
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.[1]
Ater is located a mile north of Farm to Market Road 2412 on the Leon River's south bank, 9miles northwest of Gatesville in northwestern Coryell County.[1]
Ater has been a part of the Jonesboro Independent School District since 1939.[1]