The users were also different back then. It was not only about putting it all on one page, but even about putting it all above the fold, based on the today astonishing fact that many users did not scroll down. Because they did not know they could, with later experiments observing a tipping point when scrolling became normal.
Think about that, what a different environment the sites had to work in. Not only technically, but also socially. Completely normal that details like that don't carry over into today.
I'm not sure that realization was great, given how often I have to scroll and scroll and scroll to find information on a business web site that should be front and center -- things like location, phone number, hours, etc.
Do you remember how low screen resolutions were as well?? :D