[citation needed] Griggsville Landing is adjacent to the Ray Norbut State Fish and Wildlife Area.

[2][6] According to Juliet Walker writing for the Illinois Historical Journal, "Until the railroads, the Phillips Ferry Road, as it was commonly called, would remain the most traveled east-west route in the county.

[8] The town was eventually abandoned, rendering it a ghost town due in part because, by Congressional mandate, the United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed levees along the Illinois River leading to flooding of lower elevation settlements along the river.

[5] Prior to the levees, Valley City was a vibrant river town with an economy based on commercial fishing, transportation of agricultural products such as hogs packed in oak barrels, apples, and cattle to markets in St. Louis and New Orleans,[4] and a host of small businesses including an ice house that harvested ice from the Illinois River each winter packing it in sawdust and delivering ice to residents of Griggsville some four miles west.

[4] In 1877, Valley City was platted a half-mile north of Griggsville Landing where the railroad crossed the Illinois River.

With its proximity to the railroad, Valley City soon displaced Griggsville Landing as an important economic and trade location.

[4] Sometime in the late 1990s, the last major plant in Valley City, the Tate Cheese Company, closed its doors for good.