Puddin' Man wrote:
'allo,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in a midwest city, built in 1954.

It came with a single-gang box with a standard 2-position switch to
control a ceiling fan/light assembly.

Whilst replacing the switch, I noted the usual red and black wires.
One of the black wires was stripped about 1 " in the middle (where
the wire was not cut), kinked, and wire-nutted (nothing else in the
nut, just the kink). Both the strip and the wire nut serve no
purpose whatsoever that I can see.

Just about anything could have been done in the past 53 years. Is this
midwest city anywhere near Chicago, where wiring is in conduit? If so,
you can check the other end of the run (the fixture box would be the
first place to check). From your description I would infer that it may
have at one time been the source feed for two switches in the box. Are
the fan and light separately switched?