Kathleen Spaulding lived in Elmira, a city and the county seat of Chemung County on the Chemung River in south-central New York State.

Located on New York’s “Southern Tier”, north of the Pennsylvania border, the city held a large prisoner of war camp during the Civil War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmira,_New_York

In August of 1905, Kathleen received a postcard from an unidentified friend.

The postcard was mailed from Tarrytown, a village (now within the town of Greenburgh) along the Hudson River in Westchester County of southeast NY.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrytown,_New_York

Tarrytown was the country home of Washington Irving (1783-1859), whose Sketch Book” (published anonymously) recounted legends and fanciful stories related to the early Dutch settlers in the region.

(Irving was a part-time resident; he had been born in Manhattan, and maintained a townhouse there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving

Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane remain well-known literary creations of Irving.

“Sunnyside”, the 10-acre country estate of Washington Irving, is now a museum in Tarrytown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunnyside_(Tarrytown,_New_York)

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The face of the postcard is an engraving (I believe it is a woodcut) of “The Headless Horseman Bridge”.

The title refers to the famous episode in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” when the timorous schoolmaster is stuck by a pumpkin which he believes is the head of a ghostly horseman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Sleepy_Hollow

The bridge may very well date to the time of Irving’s residency, but claims of literary inspiration are very hard to substantiate.

The lovely artwork appears to be the creation of P. A. Weber of Tarrytown. 

In the absence of any other mark, we may assume that this is the printer and publisher of the postcard as well.

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Because the postcard has an undivided back, the sender scrawled a brief message on the margin of then face:

“This is the old bridge in “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.

The writer adds, “Will see you in just a week.”

It is possible that the correspondents are schoolmates.

Katherine seems to have enjoyed the pretty souvenir as it was preserved in very good condition throughout her life.