The City Recorder combines title and vital-record roles

A St. Louis deed search and a birth certificate request can land in the same elected office. The Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar handles legal documents that affect title to real estate, and it also issues marriage licenses, birth certificates, and death certificates.

That mix can surprise people who expect a separate county recorder, clerk, and vital-record office. St. Louis City works as its own county-equivalent, so the office map is different from a normal city inside a county.

Use the task to choose the lane. A house sale, lien question, or title issue belongs on the land-record side. A birth, death, or marriage record belongs on the vital-record side. Same office name, different counter, different paperwork.