Carter was born in 1879 near the small town of Crafton in Wise County.  He quit school at the age of 11 to help support the family.

In 1905, he settled in Fort Worth where he soon found work as the advertising manager of the new Fort Worth Star newspaper.  However, the newspaper quickly faltered.  To save the paper, Carter in 1908 led an effort to raise money to buy the competing Fort Worth Telegram.  On New Years Day 1909, he combined the two papers into the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, an extremely successful and profitable publication that became one of the dominant papers of West Texas.

He quickly developed a reputation as a civic promoter and eventually made Fort Worth’s slogan “Where the West Begins” popular.  In 1911, he arranged for the first airplane flight in city history, which began a long relationship between Carter and aviation.  By the late 1920s, he was part owner of what became American Airlines and convinced other shareholders to move its headquarters to Fort Worth. 

In the late 1930s, he convinced what became General Dynamics to open a plant in the city and later attracted Bell Aviation to the area. In 1922, he opened the city’s first radio station, WBAP, which for many years shared a frequency with Dallas station WFAA.  He also convinced the state to open Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1923.

In the meantime, he bought land and invested heavily in oil exploration.  Though Carter never held an elected office, he effectively served as an ambassador for Fort Worth’s business and cultural interests, becoming one of the most powerful figures in the city.

From the 1930s through the 1950s, he nurtured a strong rivalry with Dallas.  One story relayed for years was that he had such a dislike for Dallas that he would always bring a sack lunch to any meetings he had in Dallas rather than spend money in the city.  Part of this was seen with the fight with Dallas over airports. Carter had supported the creation of Greater Southwest International Airport in the early 1950s, not far from the modern Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport while Dallas continued to support its own Love Field.  

In 1945, he established the Amon G. Carter Foundation to fund cultural and education projects across the state.  The foundation has helped fund museums, symphonies, and art projects for decades.  It has also established scholarships and provided financing for medical research.

After World War II, he expanded his media holdings into television.  In 1948, WBAP became the first television station in the South (its call letters changed to KXAS in the 1970s).  But after the war, Carter slowed down.  His health declined and suffered the first of several heart attacks in 1953.  He died at the age of 76 in 1955.

His tireless work for Texas was honored in many ways after his passing.  Amon G. Carter Lake in Montague County, constructed in 1956, was named in his memory.  In 1961, his daughter, Ruth Stevenson, opened the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, one of the most respected art museums in the state.  At Carter’s request, much of his western art collection was included. 

The Carter BloodCare Center was founded through donations from the Carter Foundation in 1959 and is one of the largest in Texas, including locations in Bedford and Waco.  Amon Carter Riverside High School in Fort Worth is also named in his honor.  Buildings at Texas Tech, Texas A&M University, and Texas Christian University are also named after him.