Phil Lambert, left, of Evansville-based QWireless, talks with Darrell J. Mowery, public information coordinator for the United States Dept. of Agriculture, last Wednesday prior to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Mauckport High Speed Internet Center, which is located behind the post office. Staff photo by Alan Stewart
Phil Lambert, left, of Evansville-based QWireless, talks with Darrell J. Mowery, public information coordinator for the United States Dept. of Agriculture, last Wednesday prior to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Mauckport High Speed Internet Center, which is located behind the post office. Staff photo by Alan Stewart
In a town that's high school mascot was the Pilots, it's only appropriate that a "pilot" project to bring high-speed Internet to rural parts of Harrison County came to fruition recently with the opening of the Mauckport High Speed Internet Center, located adjacent to the riverside town's post office along Walnut Street.

Featuring 10 workstations that each have state-of-the-art Dell touchscreen computers, the center culminated an idea nearly a decade in the making, in an area that otherwise would have been left in the technological rear-view mirror.

Along with the Chamber of Commerce of Harrison County and the Harrison County Economic Development Corp., QWireless, an Internet service provider from Evansville, applied for and received a Rural Utility Service grant through the United States Dept. of Agriculture and its Community Connect program, which serves rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be made available through strictly private investment but where it can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life for residents.

The total cost of the project was $782,000, of which QWireless, the Chamber and HCEDC shared in matching funds of $147,920. The cost also includes funding for the expansion of high-speed Internet infrastructure to provide residential Internet service to other areas of Mauckport.

"The Chamber board recognizes that high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury or a privilege but is a utility necessary for economic and community development ... as electricity, water and natural gas," Lisa Long, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Harrison County, said.

That's why the Chamber created Connect Harrison County Inc., which is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit designed to educate the community about the importance of broadband Internet and drive broadband infrastructure in the county to bring high-speed to more residents and businesses.

Visitors to the center can check email, apply for jobs and use social media, and students can do homework or play games. They simply sign in when they arrive at the center, write their reason for wanting to use the facility and sign out when they leave.

During remarks before the official ribbon-cutting last week, Long thanked Linnea Breeden, the Mauckport postmaster, for use of the property where the structure sits, as well as two staff members who are from Mauckport and live within walking distance of the facility.

"They keep an eye on it when we're not here," Long said.

James Wilson, a field representative for the USDA, noted at last Wednesday's event that his agency awards about $15 million yearly in similar grants; however, when the grant was awarded for the Mauckport center in 2012, it was one of only seven grants awarded that year.

"You should be proud," Wilson said. "The grant is not designed for county or multiple-county deployment. It's designed to bring the Internet to an area that just does not have it and the likelihood of getting it is very small. We look forward to working with the Chamber and Q Wireless."

Philip Lehmkuhler, Indiana state director for Rural Development, said the USDA's rural impact on Indiana the past five years has been about $4.3 billion. In 2013, the USDA's Rural Development delivered more than $797 million of investment to the state's 92 counties.

"When I see broadband come to rural communities like this, I just think it's a great thing because broadband today is like what electricity was to rural communities in the 1930s," Lehmkuhler said.

Phil Lambert of QWireless said local support was vital not just in getting the grant, but getting the project rolling.

The center, at 12013 Walnut St., is open Monday through Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mauckport residents interested in high-speed Internet service can call QWireless at 1-877-472-3341, option 1.