[1][2] MD 194 parallels the Maryland Midland Railway's north–south line, Israel Creek, and Laurel Hill north to Woodsboro.

[1][2] MD 194 continues as Francis Scott Key Highway through Keymar, where the north–south and east–west lines of the Maryland Midland Railway intersect.

The state highway has a grade crossing of the east–west rail line and intersects the eastern terminus of MD 77 (Middleburg Road).

MD 194, which becomes Frederick Street, crosses a branch of Piney Creek and passes the Ludwick Rudisel Tannery House.

MD 194 crosses Piney Creek before reaching its northern terminus at the Pennsylvania state line.

The roadway continues north as PA 194 (Frederick Pike) toward the boroughs of Littlestown and Hanover.

[1][2] MD 194 is a part of the National Highway System as a principal arterial from its southern terminus in Ceresville to Daysville Road in Walkersville and within the city of Taneytown.

[1][3] In the 18th century, the corridor of what is now MD 194 was the Hanover–Frederick portion of the Monocacy Road, a migration route that connected Philadelphia and Winchester, Virginia, via York, Frederick, Boonsboro, and Williamsport.

[8] The roads commission resurfaced the turnpikes' macadam surface from Ceresville to Little Pipe Creek to a width of 15 feet (4.6 m) by 1926.

[8][11][12] The Carroll County section of MD 71 was dedicated as Francis Scott Key Highway in 1931.

[17] MD 71's present steel I-beam bridge over Little Pipe Creek at the county line was started in 1953 and completed in 1954 along with 1 mile (1.6 km) of approach roads.

[23] The state highway's bypass of Woodsboro was under construction by 1995 and completed in 1997; Main Street through town was designated MD 194A.