The company began in 1954 with the production of BRI®, a rotary kiln expanded clay produced at the company headquarters location near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1984 a second expanded clay lightweight aggregate, Livlite, was added with the acquisition of the Tombigbee Lightweight Aggregate Company in Livingston, Alabama. The Arkalite plant in West Memphis, AR was purchased in 2005 making Big River Industries the largest producer of clay based lightweight aggregate. Today, Big River's annual shipping capacity of lightweight aggregate exceeds 2 million cubic yards.