From what I've seen, drum rolls are used in both social settings and for official announcements and events. I'm curious to know when it all started.
Not sure of the exact origins, but the kind of drum roll you're referring to is known as a "buzz roll" or "press roll", both played on the snare, which were frequently used in vaudeville and traveling circus shows in the early 20th century.
For example, Hadji Ali, a performer of the 1920s known as the "Great Regurgitator", would have his band play a drum roll before he spit a mouthful of kerosene into flames.
The Three Stooges also describe using this kind of drum roll in their performances in the 1910s.
Unfortunately I can't specifically answer that question, but I can tell you about snare drum rolls, how and why they cause suspense, and the idea of tension in music in general.
As Gorrest-Fump pointed out, what you're referring to is a buzz roll. To give this some context, the other kind of roll is the "double stroke roll" or "open roll".
The double stroke role: if you can imagine everyone sitting around you whacking the table as quickly as possible in an attempt to emulate a drum roll (hands going: right left right left right left... etc...) this is what a double stroke roll isn't. Because the drumsticks can act as a sort of lever, where the grip of the fingers is the fulcrum, the pattern is the same except for a bounce which occurs after every stroke so the pattern becomes: right^right left^left right^right left^left... etc... watch carefully.
Drummers work long and hard to make sure the bounce is the same force as the actual hit.
Because this is a measured roll, i.e. not random fast hitting but technically a distinct rhythm, it's excellent for marching, which is handy because that's what the snare drum was originally for: keeping the pace for soldiers marching. I suppose the roll could be considered a flourish in this context, but it's measured nature means that it will maintain consistent time instead of relying on just a "fast roll" that'll hopefully finish when it needs to. In an orchestral setting, it is usually up to the player to determine whether to use this or the buzz roll depending on the context: if the tempo is too slow, a double stroke roll might come out sounding more like "ta-ka ta-ka ta-ka..." than the desired "rrrrrrrrrr". Too fast, and double-stroke might just be unplayable.
The buzz roll, or closed roll: By contrast, the buzz roll gives the "rolling" sound most people are probably used to hearing. As you mention, in setting up some announcement or in drum fills, especially jazz. It consists of striking like before, but allowing the drum stick to bounce as much as possible before striking again. This is good because it fills in space with a sort of "buzz" that means any accentuated hits will stand out even more.
When compared to the rigid, formal nature of traditional snare drum playing (for soldiers marching) it seems obvious that a roll might bring about a sense of tension.
In Western music: It's not surprising that something was developed to create tension such as the drum roll. Composers of the past have long used crescendos, tremolos (you may consider the drum roll like a percussive tremolo, and sometimes it is notated as such). Indeed, even all the way back in the 17th century they were writing about using accentuations, drum rolls, and crescendos on the snare drum. The point being that the idea of "suspense" in music by virtue of something getting faster or louder, or faster and louder seems pretty ingrained in us culturally.
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