Relatively few fixed lens cameras, in most formats, had wide angle lenses until the 1970-80s (Excepting specialized pro cameras like an SWC, Brooks Veriwide, etc). Until the fixed lens RF/VF cameras of the 1970s (such as a Canonet with a 40mm lens, Olympus XA series with 35mm, etc) and then the P+S cameras of the 1980s and so on, when 28 to 35mm lenses became common. There are exceptions like the Olympus Wide from the 1950s with a 35mm lens, but they're pretty uncommon and nearly all in 35mm format.
There are probably both pictorial and construction reasons. Pictorially, if you can only have one focal length, "normal" (close to the film format diagonal) is a decent compromise. In practical construction reasons, most fixed lens cameras with a decent lens had a lens like a triplet or Tessar design, which covers the film format with good image quality at a "normal" focal length, but not if you make it shorter like a wide angle, especially not at fast apertures. Good coverage is one reason why Leicas and Retinas - which were not budget models - have 50mm lenses, slightly longer than the film diagonal.
Putting a semi-wide angle lens on a mass-market camera would have required good manufacturing tolerance and either reformulating a Tessar-type for wide angles or using a double Gauss design, and that didn't really reach the mass market until the 1970s with Canonets and similar cameras. (I know, the Canonet was introduced in 1961, but it doesn't get the 40mm lens until 1969.)
