Why Hemingford Home?

This is from usaweekend.com. stephenking.com notes that this is an abridged answer, but still interesting.

Why did horror writer Stephen King use the name Hemingford as a setting in two of his novels (It, The Stand) and a short story?
Patsy Parkin, Wheatland, Wyo.

For King, fictional Hemingford Home is where the heartland is. And it’s named after the real Hemingford, Neb. “I originally used Hemingford Home in The Stand,” King says, “because I wanted to put Mother Abigail in the American heartland. That’s Nebraska. Hemingford was in the right place. … I love Nebraska and keep going back to it in my fiction — when I’m not in Maine, that is.”

http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20100319/ENTERTAINMENT02/3210311/Who-s-News-Stephen-King-Carrie-Underwood-%3Ci%3EFringe%3C-i%3E-birthdays-and-more