Happy 172nd birthday, California! On this day in 1850, California became the 31st state. However, the state flag that we know today was not officially adopted until 1911. Our state flag has its origins to the California Bear Flag that flew over Sonoma during the short-lived Bear Flag Republic in June 1846. The original Bear Flag was made by William Todd, the nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln, when roughly 30 American men and their families seized the Mexican army’s barracks in Sonoma on June 14, 1846