Main city: Oblong
Timezone: Central
Phone type: Unknown
Operator: Sprint Communications Company, L.p.

Oblong, a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,580 at the 2000 census. The village says that it is "The Only Oblong" in the world. It is the home of the Illinois Oil Field Museum and Resource Center at Oblong, Illinois, a collection of early oilfield artifacts from the early days of the oil industry in the Illinois Basin and a resource center featuring a collection of early oil field records and resource books. Oblong also hosts one of Illinois's largest night time parades. Along with the night time parade, a band competition called "Spooktacular" is hosted annually the last week in October. ^source

Area code 618 is the telephone area code serving southern Illinois, including the cities of Carbondale and Cairo, plus most of the Metro East region--the Illinois side of the St. Louis area--including Alton, Belleville, East St. Louis and Edwardsville. (The northern area of Metro East is in area code 217.) ^source