Fire destroyed the century-old Masonic Lodge building in downtown New Iberia Monday night.

Firefighters were battling the blaze for hours after being called out to the historic area of the city at 10:17 p.m. Monday. The building at 203 Main Street was home to the Aurora No. 193 Masons on the third floor and Louisiana Medical Supply Inc. on the ground floor. The second floor was empty, said Dorsey Dutil, secretary and former lodge president.

Dutil and fellow mason and Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal watched from across the street as firefighters entered the building searching for the source of the blaze about an hour before flames began shooting into the night sky on the western side of the building. A steady east wind fanned the flames and sent thick, black smoke through the historic downtown area, shrouding Bouligny Plaza with a pungent fog.

“There’s a lot of history up there,” Dutil said early in the evening as the masons hoped the blaze could be contained and documents salvaged.

Hours later, however, flames would spill out through the roof and third-floor windows on the building’s facade as water was heaped onto the structure from ladder trucks and ground equipment.

As of 5 a.m., New Iberia firefighters continued dousing the building with water as smoke billowed from the structure’s shell.

The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office blocked off Main Street from Center to Duperier, as well as the Duperier Street Bridge. Spokesman Capt. Ryan Turner said shortly before 7 a.m. today that the streets will remain closed until the New Iberia Fire Department completes its work. He said water was being sprayed on the building almost nine hours after the 911 call came in reporting the fire.