You might enjoy David Foster Wallace's delightful article "Consider the Lobster" http://www.gourmet.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ma... :

"Up until sometime in the 1800s, though, lobster was literally low-class food, eaten only by the poor and institutionalized. Even in the harsh penal environment of early America, some colonies had laws against feeding lobsters to inmates more than once a week because it was thought to be cruel and unusual, like making people eat rats. "

Was it cooked the same as lobster now is done?

If you're asking what changed.

Then it's because railway passengers where given lobster.

As for if it really changed, I can't imagine it change so much into the steam style lobster of today (unless you're from Louisiana canjun/creole style).

Lobster that are more than a couple pounds are generally pretty gross, and back then they were probably like 10 lb lobsters on average.

I caught and ate a 12 pound spiny lobster recently and it was as good as any smaller lobster I’ve ever eaten (many!).