The Missouri Bureau of Vital Records is proud to provide 116 vital records locations across the state, which is one of the largest networks of offices across the country. 115 of those locations offer walk-in vital records services all day from approximately 8 AM (or earlier, depending on location) to 5 PM with no appointment needed or required, and 1 state office location that operates by appointment. In Jefferson City, there are two vital records locations. One location is located at 3400 W Truman Blvd, which is open all day with no appointment necessary. The other location is the main state office located at 930 Wildwood Dr., where appointments are recommended to better prepare for your arrival and to ensure your personal appointment is the best experience possible.
Appointments for the state location can be made over the phone or via email, or for most routine vital records issuance requests, a customer can just walk in to any one of the other 115 local locations without an appointment. For state office appointments, our team will go over important information and what documents you will need to bring with you to your appointment. This is just one of the benefits of an appointment. Due to the various statutory and regulatory vital records documentation requirements and the sheer volume of various products and services (20+) that only the 930 Wildwood Dr. state office can provide, operating by appointment with specific front window hours provides a better experience for both our customers and bureau team members.
The state office operates a full schedule from 8 AM to 5 PM every day, with all staff working in person in the office. Specifically, front window service operates from 9 AM – 3 PM at this location because the state office is conducting other mission-critical work needed to maintain state-wide vital records operations before 9 AM and after 3 PM, and throughout other parts of the day when not working front window requests, such as operating four designated call centers, processing thousands of requests received via regular mail and online from across the state, answering hundreds of email inquiries from customers and data providers, digitizing thousands of archival records and Soundex cards, testing and deploying updates to the statewide network of vital records systems, conducting virtual and in-person trainings for funeral directors, doctors, hospitals, coroners, and medical examiners, among several other required tasks.
DHSS provides 115 alternative locations because there is only one state office located at 930 Wildwood Dr., which is specifically designated to conduct various activities and provide several services to customers in complex cases, usually involving legal corrections or amendments, and in cases of locating and recovering historical records from microfilm or the State Archives. These complex tasks often require significant staff time and effort, and since only one state office exists to perform this type of work, the 115 local offices exist to assist with more routine vital records issuance requests.