Slater, IA

Slater is a Story County city of 1,543 people at the 2020 census, halfway between Ames and Ankeny in central Iowa. A post office has been here since 1887, and the city took its name from Michael Slater, the original owner of the townsite. The older rail-and-main-street frame is still there, but Slater's current map is drawn as much by trails as by streets.

Three routes meet here: the High Trestle Trail, the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail, and the bike connection along R38 toward Ames. That junction has earned Slater a reputation as a cycling stop, with Main Street shops and annual events giving riders a reason to pause. Ballard Community School District serves the local area, and the Slater Area Historical Association keeps the town's earlier stories in circulation. Slater feels like a small central-Iowa city with an unusually large trail footprint, where a former post-office town now acts as a hinge between the metro edges and the countryside.