There's literally an entire book titled The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible!
People were nostalgic for the 1890s, although this trend was more prominent in the 1930s, 1940s, and even 1950s. They saw it as an era before the World Wars and the Great Depression. Disney even made a short film with a lot of tropes about the era and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soVTBNs8RTo Real life during the 1890s was quite different. For most people, it was hard and poor. And to modern day Americans, it would seem (and be) incredibly dangerous, dirty, racist, sexist, and uncomfortable. A short introduction is "The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible!" by Otto Bettmann: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Old-Days-They-Terrible/dp/0394709411
