In a parallel universe, the Philadelphia Area Seminar on the History of Mathematics celebrated its semiquincentennial in 2001. There, our alternate selves reflected on the founding members, local scholars who managed to do a little mathematics in the isolated colonial backwater called Philadelphia. Most prominent of these early mathematicians was Benjamin Franklin, master of the magic square. Until recently it appeared that only two of Franklin's magic squares were still extant. In fact these were really two instances of the same example, extended to different orders. Now, however, it is clear that more than a half-dozen squares survive. How do these compare with their predecessors? How exactly did Franklin effect his numerical oddities? What is the state of the art today? We consider these questions as well as some other mathematics of the day.