First when / ran out of space, new programs were put on the other disk /usr in /usr/bin so everyone could assume programs were in /bin except ones that were newly installed so they would be in /usr/bin
When /usr ran out of space, a new disk was added as /home and things that were easier to move (user directories) were moved first leaving things that everyone's script was depending on (#!/usr/bin...) where they were.
This was done out of necessity, not out of good taste.
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/notes.html
See also, from:
https://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/usr...
In the original Unix implementations, /usr was where the home directories of the users were placed (that is to say, /usr/someone was then the directory now known as /home/someone).
I'm off to saddle up my piggie squadron for a flypast.
"Where ARE my programs / settings that I installed, I always have to google it!"
is interrelated with someone else asking
"Where should I PUT this program / setting / data? I guess I'll chose one of those three or so locations where it may fit, or several"
For example: Why isn't there a data directory to be found? Where does the data go? Why not replace nondescript and unhelpful names like "opt" and "usr" (which is btw. not where the user data is!)?