Department of Health

This is a great resource for genealogy research. I requested/​received five death certificates for my maternal grandfather, two maternal great-​grandparents, and two maternal great-​great-​grandparents, all of whom died in Washington, DC between 1896 and 1940. It helped that I had the death certificate numbers — from the McLean, VA Family Research Center microfiche copy of the old DC Death Certificate Index. Ask for Shirley M at the Vital Records Department at 899 North Capitol Street!

Thoroughly impressed by how easy it was to get my birth certificate. I was born in DC, so I’m sure that helps, but still — everyone there was very polite and professional and it was pretty speedy too. A far cry from the horror stories you hear about the typical DMV.

Ran across this review by chance searching for the address for the vital records office. Not sure why they gave 3 stars when the description sounds like it deserved higher. My experience was about a 2 minute wait to be called up to the window to submit the request, another 2 minutes to pay at a different window and less than 10 minutes to have them call us up to pick it up. Hard to get any better than that.

I was pleasantly surprised when visiting the Office of Vital Records. I too needed a birth certificate for my daughter.
I was in and out in about 5 minutes, and the staff was professional and friendly. There is obviously a system that works well here and I commend them.

I feel weird reviewing a government service, but my experience was the of opposite my expectations, so I wanted to share.
I needed to get my daughter’s birth certificate (four months later… lazy) and I was afraid to use the online service, so I hopped on the red line and walked from Union Station to North Capitol. I hate visiting places like this, i.e. the courthouse or DMV. They’re so artless, always way too hot, and the folks that work there have a major attitude 95% of the time. But today, I was in and out so quickly, I didn’t have time to think about those things. Thirty minutes and $ 23 dollars later, I was done.
Oh, and they accept cards now. No more having to get a stupid money order or carry your checkbook. Three stars for that.