Stephenville (also called Stephenville Ranch, Stephenville Ranch Homes or Stephenville Village) is an unincorporated community and residential neighborhood located within Edison Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The community is centered around Park Avenue, which borders the south and west ends of the community, Stephenville Parkway, a median strip-street which runs east–west in the center of the community, and Plainfield Road, which borders the east end of the community. An eastern addition to Stephenville was planned in the early 1950s, east of Plainfield Road, but after years of political, residential and township issues, it was ultimately abandoned and portions were sectioned off into different communities during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Stephenville is located between Sutton Hollow to the north, the Oak Tree-Stephenville Park to the northeast, Hampshire Gardens, Carriage Hill and Arrowhead Park to the east, Woodbrook Corners to the south, and Park Gate and New Petrograd to the west.Stephenville was developed and built by contractor Frank P. Tufaro through his building and development firm Terra-Nova Construction Company, with plans designed by architect Erwin Gerber. The community was named after Tufaro's eldest son, Stephen D. Tufaro. When first developed in the late 1940s, the rural community was unattached to nearby neighborhoods, but by the early 1950s, it was often linked as a sub-section of Oak Tree due to the school and fire districts. The community originally had its mail delivered by the Borough of Metuchen Post Office and its sewer system was connected to the Metuchen Sewer Treatment Plant. Bigger and newer township-wide schools were built, replacing neighborhood-based schools, and the postal service routes were re-organized as more land was developed between existing communities in the 1950s and 1960s, leading formerly distinct communities in Edison Township to blur their dividing lines.
Stephenville was largely responsible for getting Raritan Township to construct a modern sewer system in the northern part of the township. Local neighborhoods up to that point had septic systems installed to each house, but the land had poor seepage due to the proximity of Dismal Swamp and residents experienced frequent raw sewage overflow. The community took up their case with the Raritan Township Board of Commissioners, the Raritan Township Board of Health, the Federal Housing Administration, the New Jersey Department of Health and the Veterans Administration in the early 1950s and successfully pushed for the township to modernize sanitary living conditions.