It serves as a major arterial for eastern Flower Mound and Lewisville, where it is known as that city's Main Street.

[1] FM 1171 was first designated on March 30, 1949 from proposed US 77 west 5.3 miles (8.5 km) to a county road; at that time, the Lewisville area was undeveloped, and current alignment of US 77 (now superseded by the Interstate 35E freeway) had yet to be constructed.

[1] On June 27, 1995, the designation of the section east of US 377 to SH 121 was transferred to Urban Road 1171 (UR 1171).

[5] The designation of the extant section reverted to FM 1171 with the elimination of the Urban Road system on November 15, 2018.

[6] Due to growth in Denton County, TxDOT is planning a 3.5 mile western extension of FM1171, starting at Farm to Market Road 156 near Justin and ending at the current I-35W western terminus of the existing road.